


Stardust: Rise

by Neffititi



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-24
Updated: 2016-05-21
Packaged: 2018-05-28 17:15:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 41,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6337999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neffititi/pseuds/Neffititi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clexa space AU. Clarke's planet and Lexa's planet were at war. Clarke joined the army to defend her planet. What would happen when she met Lexa, a leader of the rebellion army on her planet? What was exactly behind the war?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Clexa space AU. Clarke's planet and Lexa's planet were at war. Clarke joined the army to defend her planet. What would happen when she met Lexa, a leader of the rebellion army on her planet? What was exactly behind the war? Rated M for a reason.
> 
> In this story, Clexa relationship is going to be a very, very slow burn. Lexa will not appear until after a few chapters, so if you are interested in this story, please bear with me. Since this is AU, its plot has nothing to do with the plot of the show, and the characters grew up differently. Though, I may borrow a lot of interesting stuff from the show, like Trigedasleng.
> 
> A brief introduction of this AU's background:
> 
> In the far future, Earth has entered another ice age. Humans have foreseen that and moved to other planets which they called "Neoearths". The planets where Clarke and Lexa are from are two twin planets which are really similar to Earth. Their ancestors have arrived there a few hundreds of years prior to this story after a very long (about 15,000 years) cryonics trip from Earth. The two planets are at war right now.
> 
> This story belongs to a space AU series of mine called "Stardust". There is another fic in this series that I'm working on, which is a Valkubus centric fic called "Stardust: The Valkyries"(where Tamsin is a bounty hunter, and Bo is an astrobiology researcher). At some point, these two stories are going to cross over for a bit (the crossover chapter, or chapters, won't be too lengthy). You do not have to read the other story, or to know anything about Valkubus to read this one. When they show up, I will give enough introduction about them. If you have no idea who Tamsin or Bo is, you can treat them as an OC f/f pairing.
> 
> Aaaand a serious warning here.
> 
> *************************WARNING **************************
> 
> If you think what happened to Lexa in 3x07 deeply upsets you, like it would trigger a panic attack or something similar, please skip the first part of this chapter, scroll down and start reading from "a few months earlier". The first part is just a flashforward of what would happen in the future in this story. I decided to include this particular scene in this story, because I want to "fix" what the show has done, but I can't fix it in the canon universe so I will fix it in this AU.
> 
> **********************END OF WARNING ***********************
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own the show, and I do not profit from it. Had I own it, s3 wouldn't have been a train wreck.

**Chapter 1**

_Bang! Bang! Bang!_

That loud sound ringed in Clarke's ear like knells.

Then, there was a moment of silence, a moment of nothing, as if the world had ceased to exist, as if everything had faded away, disappeared, vanished.

Slowly the ringing buzz came to her in her ears, and it got louder and louder. She squeezed her eyes shut while wondering why her vision had a crimson color.

It took her a while to realize that it was the color of blood. There was fresh blood in her eyes and on her face.

She raised her hand to her face and it was then that she noticed the handgun in her hand. It was her gun, and the barrel was still warm.

She swallowed hard and looked down, finally registering the scene in front of her: a pool of blood under her foot as well as two people who were lying there side by side, facing down.

She took a step forward and got down on one knee. She reached for the dark hair one first, but withdrew her hands the moment she touched her armored shoulder.

She flipped the other person over instead. From the gunshot wound on his forehead and his chest, she knew it wasn't necessary for her to check his pulse anymore.

Flipping the other person over, her heart stopped at the wound on her lower abdomen.

"Lexa…" she called, her lips starting to quiver at the gushing blood.

The brunette opened her lips and inhaled. "Clarke..." she forced that name through the bubbling blood in her throat. She coughed, before she lifted her right arm. She wanted to touch Clarke's face again, but after a weak spasm, her arm lolled.

"Lexa, stay with me," Clarke pleaded as she pressed hard on the gunshot wound. Blood ran out, through her fingers, drenching Lexa's clothes. The scene gave her an actual pain in her chest. She had to force herself to breathe, to inhale the air that had suddenly become too thick. Too thick because of the smell of blood.

Lexa gave her a smile. Tears flickered in her dark eyes. "Ai gonplei ste odon (My fight is over)," she told Clarke softly. There was nothing but peace on her face.

"No, no, it's not. Don't say that! Don't you say that! You are gonna be okay. I'm gonna save you. I can do this," Clarke bit her words out as she applied more pressure on her wound. Why wouldn't the bleeding stop? Why?

She looked around in panic, and was about to yell for help. Before she did it, though, the door to the small chamber they were in flung open.

People rushed in. Their weapons clattered heavy boots stomped on the ground as if they were stomping on her heart.

"Heda, we hear gunshots-" One of the the people spoke, and stopped abruptly when she saw Lexa lying in a pool of blood in front of Clarke. In shock, she glanced at the dead guy, before she raised to look at Clarke, who was covered in blood with a gun in her hand.

Clarke looked back at those who had just entered the room. There were her people, and Lexa's people. They were all looking at her, at her gun, and at Lexa.

After a brief silence, one of Lexa's men pointed at her furiously and yelled, "murderer! She killed Heda and the ambassador!"

Clarke's eyes shot wide open. "No..."she stuttered, shaking her head at the accusation, but was too shocked to defend herself.

The crowd started to argue. They shoved each other around, pointed weapons at others, and yelled loudly.

"Seize her!" Someone shouted while pointing at Clarke, and she was immediately dragged away. They twisted her arms behind her back and shoved her to the ground.

"No, no! Lexa!" Clarke called as she turned to look at the brunette. She struggled frantically, wanting to go back to her side, to hold her hand, to beg her to stay with her, to beg her to live.

They wouldn't allow her. They held her head down forcefully and shoved a piece of cloth into her mouth.

Her hand were tied behind her back while everyone was yelling at her furiously. Through the angry crowd she saw Lexa. The brunette tried to get up and stop her people, but she couldn't get a single word out.

A rush of fear seized Clarke's heart. Not the fear for her own fate. Not the fear for the fate of the others. Not of the fear for the fate of her planet, or Lexa's planet, or any planet, or the entire universe. She was just terrified for she was going to lose the person she held truly dear to her heart. She was terrified for she was going to witness Lexa's death and she couldn't do anything about it.

She heard the crowd yelling "kill her! Blood shall have blood!" She heard her own people arguing with them. She heard more shots fired. She heard people falling, crying, and shouting.

She reached for Lexa's hand, but she could not get any closer. She saw those beautiful, beautiful dark eyes slowly shut, and she closed her own in despair.

_Stay with me._ She begged in her heart while muffled whimpers of fear let her mouth in short bursts. _Stay with me, Lexa, please. Stay, stay, live, live, please, live_.

* * *

**\- A Few Months Ago -**

Tossing her backpack into the corner of the living room, Clarke closed the door behind her. She swiftly tapped her index finger on the control panel display on the back of the door to lock it, before she pulled off her boots and set them aside.

Throwing herself into the couch, she waited for the cushions to change into the most comfortable shape for her body. Then, she rolled to lie on her stomach and popped a snack container open.

She had a few bites, before she slurred, "can I watch some news?"

The central system answered her request with its usual voice, soft, gentle, with small pauses between words. "What type of news are you interested in, Clarke?"

"The usual?" Clarke shrugged while tilting her head back. She tossed a piece of snack into her mouth, and added, "what's going on with the war against the 02 savages?"

"The peace talk this morning was disrupted, because-"

"-an assassination attempt was made to the chancellor. Yeah, I know, I read it when I was at school this morning. Any updates on that?"

"The chancellor is stable. He is in the North Ridge Hospital, along with two other severely injured Council members. The visitation hours are-"

"Stop, I don't care about the visitation hours. What about the peace talk?"

"No further updates have been made on the peace talk. Residents of planet FF100oc-02 vowed to defend their planet at any cost. The newest poll showed an increase on the percentage of population who are absolutely against any peace talks."

"Yeah, sure, who would they want a peace talk when they are attacking us?" Clarke snorted. "Any updates on the war?"

"Two attacks happened today here in capital with a casualty of 231 people. Over twenty threats has been made in the past week, including one bomb threat in-"

"-my college, yeah, I know," Clarke said. "Who tried to kill the chancellor by the way?"

"An extremist group from planet FF100oc-02 claimed responsibility for the assassination attempt. However this news source is not confirmed."

Clarke snorted. "Like there's anyone who doesn't know that it was those savages already…anything else?"

"Our army retook two mines from the 02, however large group of soldiers were captured, injured and killed. The army of FF100oc-02 pushed our defense back by several miles. Calculating their casualties…."

Clarke signed. "I don't care about their casualties. Do you have anything that might cheer me up a little?"

"Sure, Clarke. Are you interested in a video where it shows a kitty purring?"

"Pass. Watched it already," Clarke rolled her eyes.

The system paused for a second or two, before it started with a rather cheerful tone. "Breaking news. Diana Sydney just announced that she's running for the next chancellor."

"Really? She's running? Oh my God finally!" Clarke opened her eyes wide with a surprised smile on her face.

"Are you interested in watching it live, Clarke?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure, of course," Clarke answered as she straightened her body. "Hurry, play."

The surface of the coffee table in front of her was lit up. Hologram video started to display above it.

"...today I've made my decision to run for chancellor," a middle aged blonde woman said firmly to a small crowd of reporters and supporters, "Because our planet is under siege, and something has to be done. We have to show our strength. We have to fight back."

"Damn right something has to be done," Clarke murmured.

"Citizens of FF100oc-03, I urge you to join me, to condemn the violence and to pray for our chancellor Jaha and wounded Council members, but prays are not enough. You have to join me, to take responsibility, to show our strength, to defend our planet!"

After a brief pause and a confident smile, she added while raising her right hand, "to unity, prosperity and a bright future!"

Cheers exploded among the audience in the news, and Clarke cheered along with them excitedly. After rewatching the video for a couple of times, she rolled back and forth on the couch like a happy child when she chanted "Sydney! Sydney" with the audience.

She paused the news when she heard the door open. "Hey, mom," she greeted the woman who had just walked in.

Her mother, Abby, gave her an exhausted nod before putting her purse down. She put both of her hands on the kitchen counter and lowered her head. After stretching her sore muscles, she took a deep breath.

"Bad day?" Clarke asked, concerned.

"I'm fine," Abby replied. "It's just...I had just finished an 8-hour surgery on the chancellor."

"Yeah I saw it in the news this morning. He's okay, right? The news said that he's stable. And the other two members of the Council?"

"He's stable, and I shouldn't be discussing the others with you," Abby said. She glanced at Clarke's bag, the boots she had taken off, and the empty snack bag. "Why are you home so early? I thought you had evening class?"

"School closed early. Bomb threat," Clarke told her.

"Bomb threat? Why haven't I heard of this?"

"Because you were doing the surgery, you probably had your earpiece put somewhere else and they don't have live news broadcasting system in there?" Clarke reminded her.

"Tell me about this bomb threat," Abby sat down beside her, concerned.

"Oh, it was nothing. I got an update when I was on the way home. They cleared the buildings and found nothing. Probably just some dumb kid who was trying to stop an exam or something."

Abby nodded with relief and went into the kitchen to get herself some water. "How about I cook some dinner for both of us tonight then?"

Clarke gave her a smile, though she didn't look thrilled at all. After nervously licking her lips and fumbling with the tassels attached to the side of the couch cushions, she said, "mom...I ummm…I have something that I-"

"Wait..." Abby raised her finger at Clarke when a buzz from her earpiece reminded her of an urgent incoming call. She listened to it, before she sighed. "Never mind, you'll have to fix some dinner on your own. The Council just called me in for an emergency meeting."

"Okay," Clarke nodded as she watched her mother putting her coat back on. "Hey, mom, can I talk to you?"

"Right now?" Abby narrowed her eyes at her daughter. "Can this wait?"

"Ummm...no, I mean, yeah, sure."

Abby paused, before she asked, "what is it, Clarke?"

Clarke bit her bottom lip hard, suddenly unable to hold her mother's gaze. She cleared her throat for a few times, before she said, "I ummm...I submitted the request for a leave from school today."

"You did...what?!"

"I'm not quitting school, mom," Clarke immediately argued. "I'm just taking a break from it."

"And why the hell would you want to do that, hmm?"

Clarke took a deep breath and held it. "I am joining the army."

Abby opened her mouth in silence. She was too shocked to say anything for a while. "You are not going to do that," she hissed afterwards.

"It's time for me, for all of us, to take responsibility and defend our planet, mom. People are dying!"

"Exactly, people are dying! Take responsibility? Defend our planet? Those are not your words, Clarke. Those are Diana Sydney's words."

"Her words are my words. She is speaking for all of us," Clarke argued. "The 02s have been attacking us for years. They have been destroying our mines. They have been killing our people, flaying them like savages and they-"

"Clarke, no, you are not joining the army. This is not negotiable," Abby interrupted her.

"Almost every kid in my college is going, mom. Hell, a lot of professors are going too! Have you seen the line outside the enlisting offices? Raven enlisted in yesterday, and-"

"This is not a competition, Clarke. I am not gonna let you go just because your best friend is going," Abby raised her voice. "The answer is no, period."

"Why? Because you think that I'm too weak for it? That I'm not good enough to become a soldier? Or because you just don't care what is happening right now?"

"It's a war, Clarke, a war!" Abby persuaded. "People die. You might get killed too."

"Well, someone has to do something before all of us get killed by the 02s," Clarke said firmly.

Abby shook her head in defeat. "Believe me, they are not going to kill all of us. Their losses are just as much as ours, if not more."

"Of course you are gonna say that, mom. You are one of the pro-02 members in the Council," Clarke pointed that out.

"Clarke, I'm not pro anyone. I just think things should be settled through rational ways instead of wars."

"Yeah, I sure hope peace talks would work but did they work at all?" Clarke raised her voice. "I am going, mom. I've made my decision."

"You think you are obligated to do this, because they want you to think this way! You didn't make that decision, Clarke. People like Sydney put that decision in your mouth. The mass media is talking about the war every day, every hour and every minute-"

"Because that's what we have right now, mom! We are at war with the 02s! They are murdering our people, and we need to stop them. Something has to be done!" Clarke argued. After a short pause, she added, "it's not like I need your permission anyway. I'm not a minor anymore, mom."

Abby threw her hands into the air in frustration. "Clarke, you may think you know everything about the war, but no, you don't know anything about it, really."

"Yeah, of course, because I'm nothing but a stupid child."

"You _are_ a stupid child. You are not thinking straight," Abby growled. Then she combed her fingers through her hair while another buzz from her earpiece reminded her that she was already late for the meeting.

"Look, I have to go now. The Council needs me. Let's talk about this when I get home later, okay?"

"Fine, whatever," Clarke grunted.

Abby reached her right hand out at Clarke with her palm facing up. "Give me your ID card."

"What?" Clarke exclaimed. "No, mom. I'm not giving you my ID card."

"Give me your ID card," Abby repeated firmly.

"No," Clarke refused again.

"Okay, here's the thing. Either you give it to me, or I'll make a call to deactivate your ID card."

Clarke rolled her eyes, and pulled out a charcoal gray card from her bag. She tossed it on the floor angrily and rolled her eyes again when Abby picked it up.

"You call the office the first thing tomorrow, and cancel that request for that leave, you hear me?"

Clarke mumbled something vague and turned away.

"I'm serious, Clarke," Abby warned.

"I know, mom. You got my card, okay? It's not like they are gonna let me join the army without my ID card or something. Happy now?"

Abby sighed and shook her head, before she walked to the door with her purse.

"If dad was here, I bet he'd support me," Clarke complained in a low voice.

She knew she crossed the line the second she mentioned her dead father, and the look on her mother's face pained her, but Clarke just looked away in silence pretending that she didn't care at all.

After Abby closed the door, Clarke jumped out from the couch. She pulled out a second charcoal gray card from the secret pocket in her backpack and kissed it.

"Can't join the army without my ID card, can I?" She murmured and kissed the card again. "Thanks, Raven, for making me a duplicate one."

Knowing that she wouldn't have much time, she quickly turned off everything and went into her bedroom.

After dragging a packed bag out from her closet and laying it beside her bed, she sat down and looked at everything in her bedroom.

Her eyes finally fell on one of the drawers of her desk. She walked to it and pulled it open. Inside the drawer there was a few journals, some jewelries from her childhood, a couple of old photos and an old watch.

She picked up the watch and rubbed her thumb against the glass. "Hey, dad, you'd understand, right?" She whispered at the watch that her dad had given her.

She knew expecting a response from her dead father was just stupid, but she really wanted him to appear in front of her and tell her to go because she knew her mother would never tell her so.

Taking a deep breath, she looked at her room for one last time before she threw the bag on.

Exiting into the living room, she ordered, "leave a message to Abby."

"Sure, Clarke, I'd be happy to. What would you like to say to Abby?" The synthesized voice answered her.

"Mom, I know you are gonna be mad at me, but..."

She paused, suddenly not sure what to say after that "but". She wanted to convince her mother that this wasn't a choice in rush. She wanted to tell her that she really wanted to do this. She wanted to tell her that she really wanted her support, but eventually, she just said, "I'm leaving, mom."

* * *

As the transport ship entered the atmosphere of FF100oc-02 and started to descend, Clarke held her breath as she looked at the landscape down below through the window to her left.

She had never visited FF100oc-02 before, and it left her speechless. She was amazed by the smoky hills where the mines were at. She was amazed by the winding rivers, the green farmlands, the lush forests and the steep mountains. What amazed her the most, was how similar it was to her home planet, FF100oc-03.

She had finally understood why those two planets were often called "twin earths". The only difference she had noticed so far, was that 02 was much less populated and developed.

She wondered which one would better resemble the origin of humans. Was her planet closer to the planet where human race had come from, the planet that had been called "Earth", or was 02 closer to it?

_Earth_. Her heart fluttered at that name. It was something that seemed so close yet so far away. When did they say that the ancestors of the 02s and 03s came here? Ten thousand years ago? Or was it twenty thousand years ago?

She tried to recall that number from her textbook, but all she could remember was that a long time ago, humans on Earth had sent out a ship in search of possible new homes. The ship carried a group of explorers in cryonics pods and travelled across many galaxies, until it reached FF100oc-02 and 03. They had finally found their new home, and they stayed, until-

A soft pinch on her face pulled her out from her train of thoughts. Turning to her right, she saw Raven's raised eyebrows.

"Still worried about your mom being mad at you?" Raven teased while pulling on the strap that had held her shoulder back.

"Nope, not really, cuz she's one planet away. She can't kill me right now even if she wants to," Clarke said. She looked down at her new uniform, which seemed to be a bit larger than her size, before she said, "I wasn't expecting that they'd ship us out so soon."

"Well we are at war. What do you expect? They need us on the battlefield fast," Raven shrugged. She held Clarke's hand in hers and squeezed it. "Don't worry. We are gonna be okay, cuz we are gonna stick together, right?"

Clarke nodded. She was about to say something, but a sudden jitter from the ship interrupted her.

People gasped, and then they all laughed at how easily scared they could be. Clarke chuckled quietly when she heard someone behind her making fun of his friend of screaming loudly during the jitter.

"Well, maybe it's time for us to mingle, you know, if we crash, at least someone would know our names, right?" Raven joked, and Clarke rolled her eyes.

"We have our name tags sewed to our damn uniform, Raven," Clarke drawled. "I'm sure they'd know who we are."

Raven didn't listen to her, though. She threw her chin at the three guys who were sitting opposite to them, and greeted, "hey. I'm Raven, and this is Clarke."

One of the guys, the older one, nodded at her politely and simply said, "Bellamy."

The other two looked at each other, as if they were having a hard time figuring out who should go first. Both tried a few times, but immediately stopped when realizing the other person was about to talk. Eventually, they said their names at the same time. "Monty (Jasper)."

Clarke bit her chuckles back and nodded at them. "I don't think I've seen any of you guys in the boot camp. Where are you guys from?"

Both Jasper and Monty immediately turned to Bellamy. Bellamy glanced at Clarke, before he turned away and simply replied, "small town recruits. We received our trainings somewhere else. "

"Really?" Raven frowned. "I thought everyone on this ship are from the same boot camp."

"Well, you are wrong," Bellamy told her. "We are from a different one."

Clarke and Raven exchanged a frown. Before either had said anything, they all felt another jitter accompanied by a loud, clashing sound.

Everyone on board quieted down while looking at each other. Most of them confused, a few scared.

"What was that?" Clarke murmured.

Raven shook her head. She was about to tell Clarke that it didn't sound good, but a deafening siren came. It drowned all the scared gasps and nervous murmurs.

If there had been anyone who didn't start panicking over the siren or the loud clashing sound, they sure did when all the lights were turned off, leaving only the emergency lights on. And when air masks started to drop down from the ceiling, terrified screams and cries exploded inside the ship.

Clarke reached for her air mask, but a sudden, heavy tilt from the ship shifted everything. She knew if she hadn't been wearing seat belts she'd have been thrown out of her chair.

The air pressure change inside the ship caused pain in her ears. She waved her arms trying to grab her mask, but that damn thing just kept slipping away from her fingers.

Another tilt from the ship almost made everything upside down. In the frightened screams, she had finally grabbed the mask. She put it on immediately, and inhaled hard.

Turning to Raven, she was relieved to see that Raven had the mask on already. "It's going to be okay!" She yelled at her best friend as she held her hand and squeezed it.

She saw Raven's eyes shot wide open. White fog covered the inside of Raven's mask like she was saying something, but she couldn't hear a word Raven said. She did recognize the look on her face, though. It was the look of fear. Something behind her scared Raven.

Clarke turned back, and immediately ducked her head just in time to avoid being hit by a large chest. It was then that she realized that a lot of personal belonging and supplies were flung out from the cabins.

The ship started to tumble, and the siren went on. Paled by fear, Clarke covered her mask with her left hand and squeezed Raven's hand with her right. For a moment she felt that it was hard for her to get air in or out through her throat.

_This is not happening_. She thought while biting back her tears. _This is so not happening!_

Her heart was pounding too hard, and her eardrums were about to burst. She trembled in fear while forcing herself to keep her eyes open because she had to know what was going on.

The last thing she remembered was part of the ship suddenly breaking away from the main body. The airflow tore ship parts off from the inside, including seats with people strapped in, and tossed them out into the air. The three guys sitting opposite to her had their fingers digging into the side of the armrests. Their faces looked as white as sheet.

She struggled to check on Raven, but something hit the back of her head, and she blacked out.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Slowly, Clarke opened her eyes. A groan bubbled out from her throat as she wondered why all of a sudden the loud siren had stopped and the ship's engine was no longer running.

The ringing in her ears and the pounding headache she was having made it very hard for her to grasp what had happened.

She numbly stared at a red spot in the center of her vision. A red spot with a blurry boundary, which was expanding slowly on top of something pale.

It took her forever to figure out that it was a small pool of blood. Her blood. She was bleeding through her nose, and the crimson liquid was dripping down.

She raised her right hand and wiped. The smeared blood covered a dark bruise on the back of her hand. She inhaled hard, and coughed at the rusty taste in the back of her throat.

For a while she wondered why her body seemed to be parallel to the ground, and then she realized that the seat she was buckled in, along with a lot of other seats that were still intact to the main body of the ship, was tilted 90 degrees forward.

 _The ship must have crashed into the ground in a head on collision._ She thought as she pulled on the seat belt weakly. While she was doing that, she kept staring at the pool of blood. She wondered what that pale background might be, until she saw a chunk of red hair tousled on the side in the debris.

It was someone's side face, smashed by a collapsed seat and buried in broken ship parts and glass shards.

She flinched and swallowed hard at that discovery. Dazed, she turned to the window. The glass on it had shattered already, and through the hole, she saw a small panicking crowd outside. She saw a few familiar faces, those who had trained with her in the boot camp, and those who she had met on the ship.

She numbly watched them while still processing everything. When she realized that she didn't see Raven outside, she squinted her eyes and turned her head to her left.

The seat to her left, however, had been completely ripped off and broken into half. The seat belt seemed to have been torn open too. Raven was not in there.

"Raven..." She called while battling with her own belt buckle. It seemed to be stuck, and she slammed her fist on it. When it suddenly snapped open, she fell down.

She landed on the half buried person underneath her. She fumbled with all the broken pieces and debris, trying to get that person out first, but she stopped when she saw a broken metal bar inside that person's forehead. She also saw his lifeless eyes.

She had seen enough dead bodies in the hospital where her mother was working to know that this guy was dead. She still checked his pulse, and it scared her that his body was still warm.

She dragged herself across the narrow passageway between the seats and the ceiling of the ship which was now perpendicular to the ground, looking for Raven.

She kept stumbling into soft things under her foot, and she knew they were bodies. That thought made her feel sick.

"Raven..." She called again, before she noticed an arm sticking out from under a fallen supply chest. The chest itself was already broken, possibly due to the crash, and the content inside scattered around.

"Raven!" She rushed over for she had recognized the bracelet her best friend was wearing.

She squeezed her fingers under the chest and lifted it with every bit of strength she had. Holding her breath, she moved it away slowly, and finally saw Raven lying there on her side. She had some cuts and tears on her face and her arms, and she was lucky enough to have some military jackets and blankets, which had probably fallen out from the chest, on top of her to absorb some impact.

"Raven! Raven!" Clarke called her name and tapped her face, but the girl seemed to have been completely knocked out.

Clarke flipped Raven on her back, and it was then that she saw a metal rod that had pierced through Raven's right thigh. Blood oozed out and tinted her pants.

Clarke panted as she reached for the end of the rod, but after touching it she withdrew her hand. She knew she had to pull it out at some point, but she didn't know if this was the right time. She wasn't disinfected, neither was Raven. Pulling the rod out now could mean infection and heavy bleeding, and she needed a first aid kit to treat it properly.

"Let's get you outta here first," she murmured as she sat Raven up. She put Raven's arms around her neck, and carried her towards one of the broken doors on the side.

She carefully went through the exit, making sure that the broken glass shard didn't cut Raven, or herself.

Outside, it was a chaotic mess. The injured ones were screaming, moaning and crying. A lot of those who weren't so badly injured were just standing there, too shocked and frightened to do anything.

She dragged Raven over to join the group as quickly as possible. When she laid Raven down on the ground, she fell on her knees too and gasped hard.

When she caught her breath, she grabbed the closest person and said, "I need you to watch her for me, okay?"

It was one of the guys she and Raven had talked to right before the ship had crashed. He had a bleeding wound on the top right of his head. Blood was dripping down along his cheek.

"Hey," she called again, shaking him gently while looking into his frightened eyes, though her brain went blank when she tried to recall his name. "Sorry, what's your name again?"

"Jasper, I'm Jasper," the guy answered her. He stared back at Clarke for a second or two, before he nervously turned to Raven. His eyes went wide open at the rod in Raven's thigh. "Oh my God, Is she-is she…."

"She's fine for now, I think," Clarke told him. "She just ummm...she's passed out." She caught her breath and stood up. "Can you watch her for me, please?" After a brief pause, she pointed at all the injured ones that were around them. "And them too. Call me immediately if you see any of them seizing, or bleeding heavily, or...hell, just yell if you think something's wrong."

Jasper nodded at her, though he seemed to be too stunned to react to Clarke's request. A few seconds later, he crouched down hesitantly and stroked Raven's hair, before he nodded at Clarke again.

Clarke wiped the blood off her nose and ran to the small group who were trying to pull everyone out from the ship.

"Clarke, right?" The tall guy she had talked on the ship, Bellamy, called her name while dragging someone out from the ship.

Clarke nodded.

"If you want to help, we need more hands in there," Bellamy told her as he threw his chin at the ship.

Clarke nodded again and ran into the ship looking for survivors with the others. Her heart fell heavily when she realized that they were running into too many dead bodies and only a few alive person.

She found a girl, who was still breathing, buried under shattered glasses and broken metal brackets. It took her forever to pry a heavy ceiling piece off her and to carry her out with Monty.

Just when they had gone through the exit, an explosion occurred inside the ship. The sudden blast made them lost their balance and fell.

Clarke covered the injured girl with her own body and stayed as close to the ground as she could. When the explosion stopped, she got up on her knees, dragging the girl away from the ship.

She laid her down beside Raven, before heading back into the ship, but Bellamy grabbed her arm firmly and dragged her back.

"Don't!" Bellamy told her.

"I think there might be more survivors in there," Clarke argued.

"Did you not hear the explosion?!" Bellamy exclaimed. "We don't know if-"

He was interrupted by a second explosion. It was strong enough to throw them away from the ship and deafen them.

A part of the ship burst away from the main body, flying all the way over them and into the woods. After crashing on top of several trees, it let out a dying squeak, before it broke into pieces.

Flames roared inside the ship, shooting out from the windows and the doors. Small explosions came one after another like a firecracker show.

Being held down by Bellamy's arm, Clarke had her face buried into the mud. She could feel the scorching heat coming from the ship, and she could hear everyone's cries and screams.

She felt like she was in Hell, and when she raised her head eventually to look at how many people they had pulled out, that feeling worsened. There had been over a thousand people on board, but now there were less than one hundred survivors, and many of them were injured.

Clarke scrambled towards the survivors and away from the burning ship with Bellamy. She got up and panted. The pile of dead bodies beside her entered her vision. Those dead eyes and pale faces gave her a sudden clench on her stomach, and she bent forward and started to vomit.

It wasn't the first time she had seen dead bodies, but it was the first time that she had seen so many who had died so soon. She had known some of them in the boot camp. She had talked to some of them while boarding the ship, and that was just a few hours ago. All of a sudden, they were all dead, covered in blood and despair.

A loud, painful cry from Raven came to her, and she rushed to her best friend's side.

Raven was awakened, either by the pain, or by the explosion, and she was groaning in pain.

"Raven," Clarke held her hand firmly. "You are okay. You are gonna be okay."

Raven bit her cries back after she had a glance at the rod in her thigh. "Clarke," she murmured, "I think...I think the ship-"

"-crashed, I know," Clarke told her. "You are gonna be okay. We are gonna be okay. Just...relax, okay?"

She knew "just relax" was probably the most unreasonable request for Raven right now, considering she had just survived from a crash and still had a metal rod in her thigh. But, what else could she say? How could she possibly comfort Raven, or anyone, when she herself was shaking in fear?

* * *

By nightfall, the survivors had scouted the area and set up a temporary camp site in the woods not far away from their crashed ship. They gathered firewood, cleaned the ground and lit up a fire.

Then, they shared some food and water, before they checked the inventory-things that they had on them, and things they were able to salvage from the crashed ship. Clarke managed to pull out some first aid supplied, which she used to treat the injured ones.

"Good news is we have enough guns for everyone," Bellamy told them by the fire as he pointed at a pile of weapons. "Bad news is, we don't have any large calibers because apparently they went down with the tail part of the ship-" He threw his chin at a cliff that was behind them, where the tail of the ship had fallen into. It was too deep for anyone to climb down and search for anything. "And we don't have a lot of ammos so everyone please use your guns wisely."

Everyone nodded and picked up at least one weapon. Clarke got herself two handguns, some ammos, and a combat knife. She heard one of the survivors mumbling how they should just send fighter ships carpet bombing the entire planet, or maybe even nuke the entire planet. Monty explained to him that it would be against the peace treaty among all the planets in Neoearth Federation.

 _Peace treaty? We are at war._ Clarke thought, shaking her head. She picked up another handgun and handed it to Raven. Raven struggled to raise herself on her elbows to get it.

Everyone checked their weapons quietly. Clarke checked all the first aid supplies she got again, and handed out some painkillers to the severely injured people.

Bellamy tossed three walkies out in front of the fire and said, "I tried to contact the nearest base, or the command center, but it just wouldn't patch me through."

"When would the rescue team come to us?" Someone asked.

Bellamy tapped the butt of his gun on the fallen log that he had been sitting on. "I honestly don't know. I think that by now they must have know that our ship has crashed, but since we are on a hostile planet, let's not rely on any rescue team coming for us any time soon. It would...it would take a while for them to put up a rescue team and a plan….for now, we are on ourselves."

The person who asked the question nodded hesitantly, too upset to say anything.

"What about food and water? How long can we last?" Another person asked.

"We are probably good on food for a couple of days. As for water, I'm sure there is a river or something nearby when we need a refill."

"Is there a military base or anything nearby?" Clarke asked. "Did anyone find a navigation system that might still work?"

"Yep," Bellamy replied as he pulled out a navigation device from the things they had salvaged. The screen of it had a few cracks, and a corner of it had a big dent. Though, everyone felt a bit relieved when it was successfully turned on.

Bellamy put the device down in the middle, and ordered it to display a hologram of the map. He had to shake it a few times before the display would come up.

"The blue dot you see, is our location," he elaborated as he pointed at a blue dot inside miles of forests. Behind them, there was a long, deep canyon.

He navigated through the map and eventually found an area with huge infrastructures and airports. "I think this is the base where we were supposed to land. We are roughly 50 kilometers away, or 30 miles, if you will. It's about a day's walk. We should start heading over there the first thing in the morning."

Everyone nodded quietly while letting the reality sink in. Clarke turned to Raven and squeezed her hand. Raven gave her a weak smile in return.

"Alright, guys, let's ummm..." Bellamy started as he looked around at everyone. "Let's just stay positive and stay alive, okay?" He eventually said, after failing to come up with anything that could cheer people up. "Keep your eyes open. We are not in war zone yet, but we have no idea when or how the 02s would attack us."

"The 02s? Aren't they a bunch of savages who don't even know how to use guns?" A guy snorted as he tossed some branches into the fire.

"Yeah, a bunch of savage who don't even know how to use guns, but managed to kill as many of our people as our heavily armed army," Bellamy told him.

The guy cleared his throat uncomfortably and stopped talking.

Bellamy turned off the navigation system and stood up. He beckoned at three people, including the guy who had just commented on the 02s. "You guys come with me," he ordered. "Let's get some patrol going."

After the three guys lined up, he handed a walkie to Clarke, before he told everyone, "the rest of you should take turns in night watch shift." He turned to Clarke again, and said, "just let me know if anything goes wrong here, okay?"

Clarke nodded. "Be careful," she told them and watched them leave.

* * *

Clarke took the first watch out shift with two other guys, Clyde and Jordin. They each sat down by a tree, forming a triangle to guard everyone inside.

People started to fall asleep, including the wounded ones. Their day had exhausted them out completely. The injured people would still let out a groan or two in their dreams, but other than that, it was just the wind, the bugs and the crackles from the fire.

Everything that had happened during the past few hours seemed to be a nightmare to Clarke. She tried to stay vigilant, but she was too worn out to keep focused. After sitting there for a while, her eyelids started to get heavier and heavier.

Slowly, her head tilted to the side, followed by her upper body. One of her arms dropped. She let go of her gun momentarily, but right before she fell asleep, she jolted.

Did she just hear a snap? Was it real? Was it the wind blowing through the leaves? Was it a buzz from the walkie? Was it some animal stepping on the fallen twigs? Or was it _someone_?

The last thought made the hair on the back of her neck stand. She knew, like Bellamy had told everyone, that they weren't exactly in the war zone, but she could never be too careful.

She woke up the person that was the nearest to her, and told him to take her position right now. That person nodded at her with his sleepy eyes and sat up.

Pulling out a burning branch from the fire, Clarke waved it around as a torch as she stood up and checked the camp site.

Everyone was soundly asleep. She could even see the patrol team moving around in the woods. The two other night watch outs, were sitting by the trees with their backs turned at her.

Everything seemed fine, but she just couldn't make that weird feeling go away. The weird feeling that was crawling on her skin, as if there was something in the air that irritated her.

Taking a glance at Jordin and Clyde again, she frowned at their backs. When had they turned away from her? Or had they been sitting like that all along?

"Psst," she whispered at them. "Hey. Hey guys."

Neither of them answered her. She pulled her gun out as she walked to them.

Those two guys were sitting under the trees with their head lowered and their faces in shadows. The way their arms lolled, though, told Clarke that something was wrong.

Thinking maybe both of them had fallen asleep, she placed a hand on Jordin's shoulder and shoved him. Instead of waking up, Jordin tilted to the side and fell on the ground heavily.

It was then she had noticed that the dark color on the front side of his uniform was not shadows, but blood. Jordin had his throat slit, and he was dead.

Clarke's blood ran cold, and her breath became short. Her heart raced, giving her a tingling rush. She held Clyde's shoulder and shook him, only to find out that he had been killed too, with his throat slit and his uniform drenched in blood.

Fear seized her heart as she stumbled back. She woke up everyone with her shaking voice. Then, she pulled the walkie out with her trembling fingers.

"Bellamy," she called in panic. "Someone-someone's here! Clyde and Jordin, they are dead."

A series of loud white noise came with Bellamy's voice. He asked if everyone was okay and who exactly were at the campsite, but she had no time to answer him, because she heard the leaves flutter above her, and then something coming down from the tree that was right behind her.

She spun around and raised her gun, dropping the walkie and cutting Bellamy off.

A face had emerged out of the shadows and darkness, and she caught a glimpse of it. It was a man's face covered in warpaint. Fresh blood was dribbling down along his cheeks and his chin, and there was a big scar that ran across the middle of his nose. His mouth and his chin was covered in a part of a skull, the jaw piece. It make him look as if the flesh on his mouth and chin had gone and his bones had been exposed.

 _02s_. She thought, since he looked exactly like those 02 soldiers she had seen in the news. She growled angrily and fired her gun at him.

Bang. Bang. Bang. That sound was so loud that it was tearing her eardrums apart.

He raised his blood coated blade at Clarke, but was forced back by the bullets. He fell down on his back and struggled, before he stopped moving.

Clarke panted hard as she stared at the man's dead body. She couldn't stop her arms from shaking.

Everyone in the camp was now wide awake with their weapons ready. Clarke saw enemies coming down from the trees in warpaint and masks and with sharp blades in their hands. She bit her screams back while firing her gun at them.

She made her way through the chaos, towards the injured people. She stood by Raven's side while shooting at the intruders.

When she was changing her magazine, she was knocked down by someone swinging down from the tree from behind.

She pulled herself forward by grabbing the grass on the ground. Then she rolled to face the attacker and held up her gun. Before she fired, the attacker knocked her gun away from her hand and straddled her.

The attacker was a female, with long, braided dark hair. There was nothing but blood thirst and rage in her eyes. Half of her face was covered in skull parts, its color contradicting her skin tone, making her look like one of those frightening monsters Clarke had seen in those ancient comics.

Clarke struggled, trying to reach for her second gun, but the woman crushed her knee on her wrist and forced her down.

She raised her falchion, and Clarke could see the reflection of herself on the blade, scared. She grabbed the woman's hand, battling against her so she wouldn't plunge that blade into her throat.

She was about to lose, but the woman suddenly froze. A look of disbelief fleeted across her face as she looked down at her own chest. She opened her lips when she saw an existing wound there. As her blood gushing out, she growled and raised her blade at Clarke again, but death took her first. She fell off and squirmed, murmuring something that Clarke couldn't understand.

She eventually stopped moving, and Clarke raised herself on her elbows while panting hard. She saw Raven sitting there, with her gun raised in her hands. She was shaking just as hard as Clarke was, if not harder.

* * *

The battle ended right before dawn. 35 dead bodies scattered around in the camp, 22 of their people, and 13 attackers.

Clarke helped the others dragging the bodies to the side. She almost screamed when a "body" suddenly twitched under a dead attacker.

"She's still alive!" Clarke exclaimed as she pulled that person out.

A woman, in a blood drenched military uniform, struggled to reach her hand at Clarke. "Help..." she bit that word out in a slur.

"Hang on, K-Kaiya," Clarke called her after taking a glance at her name tag. She noticed that Kaiya was bleeding heavily, so she figured she'd stop the bleeding first. She pulled Kaiya's clothes open, and then she froze there.

There was a long, deep cut on the Kaiya's stomach, as well as a stab wound on her chest. She was practically disemboweled, and Clarke had a very hard time believing that she was still alive.

The woman looked at her while moving her lips. Though, other than foam of blood, she didn't get any word out.

"Oh God..." Clarke murmured as she turned away. She took a deep breath and turned back again. She tried to put a smile on her face, but with her jaw clenching so hard and her lips quivering, she knew she must looked beyond awkward.

She wanted to tell Kaiya that she was going to be okay, but she just couldn't lie like that.

Everyone else was dead quiet. A few started to sob. Bellamy came over to take a look. One glance, he let out a frustrated hiss.

The woman managed to fist the corner of Clarke's clothes. She silently begged for help with her eyes.

Bellamy paced in front of the woman anxiously, before he tossed his cap to the ground in frustration and pulled out his gun. He pointed it at Kaiya's forehead, his arms shaking hard and his teeth clenched.

"No!" Clarke told him in tears.

"Can you save her, Clarke?" Bellamy stared at her.

Clarke stared back while using every bit of her strength to stop herself from crying. There were so many tears welling up in her eyes. So many tears.

"Can you save her?" Bellamy asked again.

Whimpers left Clarke's mouth in short, weak bursts. She inhaled through her nose, and tried to make the lump in her throat go away. She squeezed the woman's hand hard, before she shook her head at Bellamy.

"Then turn away," Bellamy told her, practically begging now. He shoved his gun at Kaiya's forehead, but just couldn't pull the trigger.

Clarke turned away and closed her eyes. When Bellamy had finally fired his gun, she flinched hard, as if the bullet went through her own heart instead of Kaiya's brain.

The gunshot seemed to have killed all the voices too. The muffled groans and weak gasps from Kaiya had stopped. The sobs and whimpers from the others had stopped too.

And then, there came the first ray of sunshine in the morning. It awakened the entire world. It painted everything so vividly, so brightly, including all the blood that had been spilled, all the faces of the dead people and the wounded.

Clarke raised her head numbly and stared at the sun. She stared at it even though it started to hurt her eyes. She stared at it as if the sun should be held responsible for what had happened to Kaiya, to Jordin, to Clyde, and to all those who had died in the camp, or on the ship.

She had never known that life could be so insignificant and fragile, nor had she ever known that she could hold so much rage and fear in her heart at the same time. So much that she couldn't even think or breathe.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The hot, humid air stuck to Clarke's skin like wet, sticky hands. The back of her uniform was drenched in her own sweat. Her underwear clung to her groin tightly, making her feel like she was taking a shower with her clothes on. The military boots, they seemed to have clamped her toes too tightly, and the heels gave her painful blisters.

She wiped her face for the hundredth time. She squinted her eyes shut because she got sweat in them. The stingy sensation caused her tear to flood out.

She wondered if there was a single part of her body that wasn't burning, aching or sweating right now, and she knew the answer would be none.

She had something else to deal with as well. The tiny eight winged, moss green insect-like creatures that would excitedly swarm at any carbon dioxide exhaling things. They were harmless. They wouldn't sting or bite, but they would squeeze their way into her nostrils, eyes, or even ears whenever they had the chance. They were just too annoying to be ignored.

_Where are the bug sprays when you need them?_ Clarke thought in frustration as she waved her hands around to drive them away. Then, she coughed because she choked on a bug. It left a funky, tart taste in her throat, making her feel like she had just downed some expired milk.

She spat repeatedly while wiping her sweat off with her sleeve absentmindedly. She almost ran into Bellamy who was walking in front of her when he had suddenly stopped.

Thinking maybe he had spotted an enemy or two, she pulled her gun out immediately, only to realize that Bellamy stopped because the path they were on was cut off by a long, wide ravine.

Clarke narrowed her eyes under the bright sun as she stared at the ravine which was at least fifty feet wide. "I thought there was an old cable bridge here somewhere. I saw it on the map," she murmured, looking for the bridge.

She found none, so she took out the navigation device and checked. There was indeed a bridge on the map, but it wasn't anywhere to be seen here. It took her a while to realize that the bridge over the ravine had either been destroyed or broken apart. She could still see some remains of it hanging on the other side of the canyon.

"Great," Bellamy hissed as he threw his cap down in frustration. Then, he walked to the edge and looked down.

The ravine was too steep for them to climb down and then up to go across. He cursed and studied the map, trying to figure out another way to the base they were heading to.

"Hey, what's going on? Why stopping?" Raven limped to them with a makeshift crutch.

"Oh, we are just trying to figure out how to get across," Clarke explained to her. "There was supposed to be a bridge here but it's gone now."

"Oh good, cuz people back there-" Raven pointed at the crowd with her thumb, "-are freaking out because they thought we got attacked again or something."

"No, everything's fine," Clarke assured her as she looked around. "For now at least."

She glanced at Raven's right thigh, and saw a little bit blood seeping out through the gauze. "You really shouldn't be walking on your own, Raven. You should have stayed in the stretcher."

"And what? Let two people carry me around and slow us down even more?" Raven shrugged, and Clarke shook her head.

"Alright, I think we'll have to take a detour," Bellamy told them as he beckoned at Raven and Clarke to study the hologram map. He pointed at the ravine, which was drawn as a thick, long green line on the map, and said, "we can't get across, so we'll have to go around it."

He traced his finger along the line till it got thinner and its color got lighter. "I think we can make a crossing over there-"

"-and that adds about another 70-80 miles. So two more days?" Raven commented.

"Actually, three, or even four more days, because we will have to start hunting for food later tomorrow and everybody's already too exhausted to catch up," Clarke said in a sigh. "Not to mention if we encounter any enemies again."

"Great, I'll let everyone know that instead of shooting people or being shot at, we are just going to travel for four more days in this burning, sweaty hell, yay!" Raven said sarcastically before she headed back.

* * *

Sitting in her chair, Abby clasped her fingers together and rested her arms on top of the oval table. She stared at the planet symbol in the middle of the table as she waited for the other council members to sit down.

"Seven emergency council meetings in five days while the Chancellor and the two other injured members are still in recovery," she murmured as she raised her head to look at the woman sitting on the other end of the table. "What do you want, Sydney?"

"Well, Dr. Griffin, you see, our problems don't go away just because we are missing our Chancellor or two members," Diana sydney replied calmly. "The war is getting worse, and we must do something. We can not just sit here and wait."

"I think the fact that you can't just sit and wait, is the very reason why the war got worse," Abby pointed it out. "For years, you've been pushing for budgets to cover more troops and a bigger war. You kept telling people that we must be focusing on the war, as if that's the only issue that everyone should be worried about."

"You don't think we should be worried about it? The citizens of FF100oc-02 are attacking us. They are making assassination attempts on our leaders. They even tried to bomb our capital. Should I just tell everyone to look the other way?"

"I think everyone in this room knows exactly why the 02s are attacking us," Abby told her.

"If by that, Dr. Griffin, you are referring to the disagreement between the 02s and us regarding the mines and quarries over there," one of the council members, Cole, spoke up as he leaned forward. "I will have to remind you that it was completely legal on our side. We did not start the war by making it an issue. They did."

"Yeah, they did, because our mining companies are not welcomed there," Abby reminded him.

"Well, that's hardly our fault," another member, Muir, joined the conversation. "They agreed to join the Neoearth Federation Treaty, and a part of it is that they have to open proportions of their market as well as putting up some of the natural resources, including the mines, for open bidding. Our companies won the bidding, fair and square."

"Oh please, Muir, you and I both know how that Treaty is carefully _written_ just so we can-"

"Dr. Griffin," Sydney interrupted her. "I don't think this is the time or the place for you to express your negative opinions on the NF Treaty."

"You want to talk about the war, and I am simply telling you why we've got the war in the first place," Abby said calmly.

"The war has nothing to do with your anti-treaty view, Dr. Griffin," Sydney waved her right arm in the air. "You started the anti-treaty movement a decade ago, and you didn't get enough support on your side. You lost. End of story. Please don't use the war in favor of your agenda of protectionism or whatever that it is that you support."

Abby took a deep breath to hold her anger. "Yes, I was against the NF treaty. I am still against it, because simply, I think we have moved too fast on that. A lot of 02s are strongly against it. We should have given them more time, instead of having forced them into it. "

"Well, whenever there is change, any types of change, there is going to be some sort of disagreement, some resistance or even some rebellions," Cole said. "If we stop every time when there is someone who is against something, we won't be able to get anything done."

He paused briefly and adjusted his monocle, before he continued, "it's ridiculous for the 02s to be against it anyway. The treaty has brought them a lot of business. It has created so many jobs and it has given them just about everything."

"And that is your opinion, Cole," Abby argued. "You can't, and shouldn't, force people to accept something they don't want to. You-"

"Dr. Griffin," Sydney interrupted her. "I know that you have a soft spot for the 02s. Maybe somehow you think you can relate to them, or you understand them, but please don't forget that you are a council member of our planet, not theirs."

"I am fully aware of that, and that was exactly why I opposed the treaty. I warned you about the possible consequences of pushing it, but you didn't listen. And now, we got ourselves a war."

"Are you implying that somehow we started the war, Dr. Griffin?" The member sat right next to Sydney, Fuji, said with a serious look on his face.

"No one started the war. It was a chaos of misunderstanding, distrust, anger and fear."

"You call the 02s bombing our mines and sabotaging our mining equipments a _misunderstanding_?" Fuji raised his voice.

"Well," Cole turned to him. "The 02s have been known to resent modern technologies, especially auto-machines, like...the mining machines we have. They consider them a desecration to their sacred planet…."

"Desecration or not, that is their problem," Sydney cut him off. "They joined the treaty, and they are a member of the Neoearth Federation. They have to follow the NF rules and laws. They can't just attack our mines because they think something we put in there is evil. They have elected a president of their own, and he signed the treaty. That's democracy, and they can't just...throw it away whenever they don't feel like it."

"Yeah, the elected president of 02 only had the majority votes because a lot of their people, mostly those who were against him in the first place, did not vote. They were simply too upset to vote because their supreme leader, the Commander, or _Heda_ , was not nominated," Abby said.

"That sounds to me like their problem, Dr. Griffin," Muir said to her. "If they were upset about the nominees back then, they could have nominated someone they liked, or they could have just joined the election themselves. They had their right to vote, but they decided not to. That was not our fault."

"Again, Dr. Griffin, you are dragging the problems of 02 into our council meeting, where we are supposed to discuss what _our_ people want," Sydney warned her.

"You want to know what our people want, Sydney? I'll tell you what they want. They want war, because you told them to. You convinced them that they want the war, because _you_ want the war."

"No, you are wrong, Abby. No one wants the war, but it happened, and now I am trying to stop it. We have to make peace by winning the war first," Sydney told her in a loud voice. "That's why I called for an emergency meeting today. Something has to be done."

Abby scoffed. "What is it that you want to propose this time, hmm? Increasing budget for short range missile research program? Manufacturing more weapons that could cause higher damage? Barring more 02s from entering our planet? Should we just gather every single 02 into a sealed room and gas them?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Dr. Griffin," Sydney snorted. "Under the current treaty, we can not use any kind of weapon of mass destruction. We can not even send out fighter ships because that might kill too many civilians. The only way for us to win, is to enlist more soldiers."

"I think we've already enlisted way too many soldiers, Sydney," Abby told her firmly. "Sending more troops to 02 is just going to exacerbate the whole situation. We need to push on the peace talk."

"Well, we all saw how peace talks went. Last time it almost cost us our Chancellor and two council members," another member, Ngen, spoke up. "I don't think now is a good time to start another peace talk. Though, we should set up meetings with the FN committee. They can pressure the 02 government-"

"You think the savages from 02 would listen to the FN committee? How many times have FN called for cease fire, and did that stop them?" Muir argued.

"From what I've heard, the president of 02 actually agreed to follow the FN's suggestions. It was those rebellion forces who kept attacking our people," Ngen said.

"Then why would you suggest that we meet with the FN committee in the first place? Even if the president of 02 listens to them, his people won't."

"Gentlemen, calm down please," Sydney called. "Let's not focus on what the 02s will do or what they will not do."

The two men stopped arguing and turned to her.

Sydney curled one corner of her lips and said, "I hereby propose a 50% increase on the number of army recruits."

"You propose a 50% increase? Why not 100%? Why not just ship us all over to the 02 and settle this once and for all?" Abby fired her words out.

Sydney didn't respond. Instead she raised her right arm and called, "those who are in favor of my proposal."

Muir, Cole, and Fuji immediately raised their arms. Ngen and the last member of the council, Kaplan, hesitantly looked around. After seeing the firm look of rejection in Abby's eyes, they awkwardly lowered their heads, and did nothing.

"Aye," those who raised their hands said in a low voice.

"Those who are opposed?" Sydney called while raising her chin and looking at Abby and the other two with a look so vicious that it felt like she was shooting venom out from her eyes.

Abby clenched her lips to stop them from quivering too hard in anger. She stared back at Sydney and leaned forward. "Nay," she let that word fall out from her mouth firmly and coldly while raising her arm.

"The proposal has been rejected since it didn't reach an unanimous consent," the secretary of the council announced matter-of-factly.

Abby snorted and pressed her hands on the table. "You will never get what you want, Sydney," she bit her words out. "You are not getting my vote on any proposal that is pro-war."

Sydney gnashed her teeth and forced some air out through her nose. Enraged, she clenched her teeth and stared at Abby. Abby stared back fiercely.

Sydney was about to say something, but an incoming call interrupted her. The secretary answered it.

A message from the military command center was displayed above the center of the table, telling them that a ship that had carried over 1000 soldiers had not landed at where it was supposed to be landing. It had lost contact with the command center for over a day now. They concluded that the ship might have run into some kind of accident, and they needed the council to decide what they should do about it.

Shocke, the council immediately adjourned their current meeting so they could start one with the command center to discuss what to do with the lost ship.

* * *

After walking in the woods for hours, Clarke and the rest of the team decided to stop by a quiet, small creek to take some rest and get some water.

The majority of the group cheered at the crystal clear water even though Bellamy warned them about the possibility of drawing unwanted attentions.

Some people immediately kneeled down and washed their faces in the cool water. Then they cupped some water and guzzled it despite that Clarke told them to use purification tablets instead of drinking directly from the creek.

No one really listened to her, and she eventually gave up, shaking her head at those who tried to cool themselves down by jumping into the creek or splashing water everywhere.

She went to check on the injured. One of them was having a really high fever, and he was talking mumbles. She sighed. All she could do was to give him a fever reducing pill and a piece of water drenched cloth on his forehead.

She checked his gaping wound on his lower abdomen. It was red and swollen, with pale yellow fluid oozing out.

"How bad is it?" Bellamy asked her in a low voice after making sure that no one was paying attention to their conversation.

"I don't know," Clarke told him honestly. "It looks pretty bad to me, and it can get worse. If it gets worse, I don't even know if he could make it."

Bellamy nodded with a heavy look on his face. "Oh well..." he murmured.

"Is there any chance we can contact the command center or any of our people? Any chance they'd send out a rescue team for us?"

Bellamy shook his head. "I tried to contact them. It just won't go through. I don't know, maybe our frequency is jammed or something. I'm sure they know that something must have happened to us by now, but...I don't know about the rescue team."

After a brief pause, he added, "well, it's only about three more days of walk. We can handle it. Everything is going to be okay."

"Yeah sure. I really wish that everything is going to be okay," Clarke let out a deep sigh. She looked at all the exhausted members of their group and murmured, "God I can't believe this is happening. We were supposed to get most of our battle trainings after we got here. We are so not ready for this….."

She was about to ask Bellamy why he seemed quite calm and organized during such a disaster, but before she did, a gasp came from the creek side. It followed by a loud splash since a guy fell into the water unconscious.

Clarke rushed to him. With the help of the others, she dragged him out.

"Davon," she called his name while tapping his face. "Hey, Davon, can you hear me?"

He wasn't responding at all. He was barely breathing. She checked his pulse. It was dangerously rapid and weak at the same time.

"What happened?" She asked the girl who was right next to them as she pulled Davon's clothes open.

"I...I don't know," the girl replied, confused and scared. "He was just drinking, and then suddenly he just...collapsed."

_Heat stroke?_ Clarke wondered as she pressed the back of her hand on the guy's skin. It didn't feel hot to her.

She shook him gently, and Davon opened his eyes and huffed out a few meaningless mumbles. A weird smile appeared on his face, like he had lost control of his facial muscles and they were pulling too tight. Bloody foams came out from his clenched teeth. Muffled gagging sound hummed in his throat as his limbs tightened in spasms.

"What's going on?" Bellamy rushed to to them and asked.

Clarke raised her head and looked at him. It took her a second or two to finally speak. "I think he's been...poisoned."

"Poisoned?" Bellamy frowned. He looked around at everything, before he asked, "how? Was it the water?"

His words immediately caused a nervous, panicking stir among the crowd. Some people screamed while spitting the water out from their mouths. Others had their faces turned pale in fear.

"No, no it's probably not the water," Clarke said loudly, trying to calm the crowd. "Had it been the water, most of us would have looked like this by now."

She tried to come up with something to save Davon, but she lost him too quickly. He died in seconds, choking in his own blood, with his bloodshot eyes wide open.

Scared whispers came, and it was then that she noticed Davon's right hand. It clutched the side of his neck tightly like a claw. She pried his fingers open, and saw a small dart stabbed into his neck.

She had just pulled the dart out when she heard a soft swooshing sound beside her. The girl she had just talked to, got hit by a dart on the side of her neck. Stunned, she reached for it and pulled it out. Before she had handed it to Clarke, she fell down to the ground and started to twitch with foam of blood coming out from her mouth.

"The darts are lethal!" Clarke announced as she pulled out her gun. "Everybody take cover!"

In panic, people pulled out their weapons and searched for the dart shooters. They looked around at the trees, the tall grass, the rocks and everything else that could possibly have someone hiding behind, while anxiously pointing their weapons at everything that was moving.

Three more men down, and Jasper finally noticed something bright among a cluster of leaves several yards away from him. It was someone's fierce eye. He let out a loud yell and fired his gun repeatedly.

A woman fell down from the tree, with multiple bullet wounds on her chest and her legs. She had camoflage paint all over her skin, and there was a sack of darts hanging on her belt. She hit the ground heavily, and then she struggled to raise her arm trying to reach her blowgun which had fallen down too. She collapsed before she could. Her blood gushed out from her wounds.

She was no longer moving, and Bellamy held his gun tightly as he approached her cautiously. He kicked her blowgun away, and slowly crouched down to check her pulse. After finding none, he gave everyone a nod.

Clarke still had her mouth wide open when she numbly turned to take a look at all five dead people that were lying beside the creek. The small feathers that were used as the tails of the darts fluttered in the wind.

She was about to say something, but another swooshing sound interrupted her. The person standing right in front of her got hit by a dart in his chest. He fell into Clarke's arms with a look of surprise and horror on his face. He struggled and clung to Clarke's hand tightly, begging her to save him with some incoherent, vague groans. He died in less than one minute.

Gasps, cries and screams exploded in the crowd as more and more people got hit by the darts. Fear, rage and panic overwhelmed the group. Some ran to hide behind things, trembling. Others just opened fire at every tree and grass.

More attackers were killed and fell down from the trees, and the body count on Clarke's side kept increasing as well. There was a time that the attackers stopped firing darts, and they thought they must have killed every one of them, but just when people started to holster their weapons and peeking out from behind the places they were hiding, two more people got hit and died.

The group became furious, and they searched the remaining attackers relentlessly, until one of them had finally located someone hiding in a tall tree.

They fired at the attacker, and the attacker, a short, skinny man covered in brown-green camo paint, swiftly fled the scene by jumping and climbing up and down along the trees.

They followed him while continuing firing their guns at him, but he just kept running. For a moment, they thought they had lost him, but Monty noticed dribbles of fresh blood on the tree trunks.

They all cheered and yelled for revenge as they followed the bloody trail, either though Bellamy, Clarke and the others warned them not to pursue further.

A while later, they arrived at a small, run down village hiding among the trees.

It was protected by fences of spiky poles and barbed wires. Two tall, flagpost-like poles stood beside the half opened gate, one on each side. Both of them held several severely mutilated dead bodies like skewers holding meat pieces together, and that scene made Clarke want to throw up.

"Hey, these are our people!" Someone pointed out after realizing that those dead bodies had the same uniform as theirs.

That finding fueled the group's rage, and they clamored for revenge. Knowing that they now had no choice but to seek the wounded attacker out, Bellamy and Clarke calmed everyone down, before they assembled a small team. They told everyone else to wait outside and to cover them, before they moved in.

The entrance and the ground inside the village had too much blood spilled, old and new. It seemed that a bloodbath had recently taken place here. They lost trace of the wounded attacker, so they decided to search hut by hut.

There were a cluster of huts inside, and some treehouses and a huge fire pit that was no longer in use. Some huts were too old and empty, with some furniture and personal belongs abandoned inside, like whoever had lived in them left in a hurry.

There were several huts, however, that looked like they were still occupied. They had leather stands outside the doors, with hides being stretched and dried. They had tuber plants braided and hanged under their roofs together with some handmade charms.

Clarke tapped Bellamy's shoulder quietly and pointed at one of the huts. There was a bird coop beside it, and in it there were several birds with gray blue feather. The same feather they had seen on those darts.

They approached the hut, and stood by the covered window. They could hear heavy breathing inside with an occasional muffled sob or two.

Bellamy gave Clarke and the others a nod, before he kicked down the door and rushed in with his gun raised and ready to fire.

He didn't see any wounded attackers inside, but there was a frightened woman with two equally frightened kids. They tucked themselves in the corner of the walls and stared at Bellamy's gun. Tears rolled down along their cheeks but they bit their lips hard enough not to make a sobbing sound.

Bellamy took a deep breath and stepped forward. With his eyes on the woman he searched the hut but found no one else. When he once again had his gun pointing at the woman, she raised her hands and yelled something at him. He knew she was speaking Trigedasleng, a language that was widely spoken among the 02s, but he could only grasp a few words like "please" and "kill".

"Anyone here speaks Trigedasleng by any chance?" He asked those who stood by his side, still staring at the woman closely.

Monty raised his hand awkwardly. "I do."

"What's she saying?"

"Please don't hurt me and my children," Monty translated while listening to the woman's plea. "I am no warrior and I have not killed anyone. Please, have mercy. Let my children go."

Bellamy cleared his throat uncomfortably and lowered his gun a little. "We are looking for an attacker. He has killed some of our people. Where is he?"

Monty translated, and the woman shook her head in fear.

"We know he's here! Tell us where he is!" Bellamy threatened.

The woman shook her head again, but there was a split second when her eyes moved to the side looking at the hut beside hers. She quickly moved her eyes back as if she was too afraid of looking at that hut. She lowered her head afterwards, shaking. Her kids hid behind her and looked at them with their scared, teary eyes.

Bellamy and Clarke shared a frown, since they had already searched that hut. They eventually decided to search it again.

No one was in there, but this time Clarke noticed that a few drops of fresh blood was right under the edge of a straw mat that was in the center of the floor. She tossed the mat to the side, and saw a hatch door underneath.

Bellamy stood on the side and nodded at Jasper. Jasper opened it, and Bellamy immediately raised his gun at the inside.

There, they saw that attacker they were looking for. He sat there against the wall and bled hard. When he saw Bellamy's face, he weakly raised his arm, trying to grab his blowgun, but couldn't pick it up with his shaking fingers.

He opened his mouth and let out a few gagged words in Trigedasleng, before he pulled out a short dagger from the sheath that was attached to his belt. He stabbed himself with it right in his chest. A few agonizing groans, and he was gone with his head lolled to the side and a stream of blood coming out from the corner of his mouth.

Clarke swallowed hard and turned away. For some reason, the deaths had fallen on her heart like heavy, cold weights.

They left the hut, about to leave the village, but one of them heard some noise coming from the tree house above them.

"Someone's up there," he warned them, and everyone loaded their weapon.

"Cover me," Bellamy told them as he stepped on the ladders that was nailed to the tree.

He cautiously approached the entrance of the tree house. He stopped there and pressed his ear against the door. He could definitely hear someone inside, who were struggling against something while trying to talk but were gagged.

Bellamy beckoned at Clarke and Jasper, telling them to get up there with him. And after they came to his side, he nodded at them before he kicked down the door.

They were surprised to find four men, who were in the same army uniforms, tied up and gagged in there. They had injuries and bruises all over their faces and bodies. When they saw Clarke and the others, they were so thrilled that one of them had tears in his eyes.

"It's okay. You are okay, " Clarke told them as she and the others cut ropes for them. "You are safe now."

One of the men, who looked like their leader, nodded at Clarke, Bellamy and Jasper. They cracked their necks and moved their arms, before they climbed down with them.

After all them got down from the tree house, the leader guy looked around at every hut in the village in silence. He saw the woman in the hut next to them peeking out through the window, and he cursed with his jaw clenched.

The woman immediately withdrew from the window and lowered the cover to hide herself. The man furiously growled and pulled Bellamy's gun out from his hand.

He stormed into the hut. None of them could react until they heard two gunshots fired. They rushed in, and saw the woman lying in a pool of blood with a gunshot wound on her chest. One of her children, a young boy, got shot in the head, and he lay there right beside her. The guy Clarke had just rescued, had his gun point at the living kid.

The kid, who was a girl about the age of 5, was too scared to even cry. She hid herself under a chair and shuddered with her arms around her head.

Shocked, Clarke yanked the gun out from the man's hand and yelled, "what is wrong with you, man?! She wasn't even-she was unarmed! And that boy was just a kid!"

The man stared at her with his angry eyes and hissed, "this is none of your business! These bastards captured us, kept us as their prisoners and they killed ten of my men!"

Clarke opened her mouth as she figured that those mutilated bodies being displayed outside the village were probably his men. She swallowed hard and argued, "but we are not supposed to kill unarmed civilians or kids."

"Civilians? Is that what you call them?" The man furiously pointed at the dead woman's body. "You think she wouldn't come at you at night and slit your throat just like the others would?" Then he pointed at the dead boy. "You think he was just a kid? You think he wouldn't grow up exactly like one of them?! He is one of them!"

He grabbed the gun from Clarke's hand and shot the girl in her head. After that loud bang, the girl collapsed to the floor. There were still tears of fear in her eyes.

Clarke stood there and stared at the three dead bodies. She was too overwhelmed to speak. Her heart boiled in rage and sorrow, and tears blurred her vision. She swallowed to ease her dry throat and got down on one knee. Gently, she closed the dead girl's eyes.

Monty sighed behind her, and Jasper laid a hand on her shoulder and gave her a soft squeeze. Neither of them had said a word.

"Stop being so soft, rookie," the man told them while handing the gun back to a equally stunned Bellamy. "We are at war. Either we kill them, or they kill us. There is no in between."

Clarke shook her head and refused to look at him. The man scoffed and turned to Bellamy instead. He reached his hand out to him and introduced himself, "Lieutenant Charles Pike." Then he turned to introduce the other three men of his who stood at the door, "and those are Lanston, Martin and Aden."

Bellamy touches his own nose awkwardly and cleared his throat. He hesitantly reached his hand out, and held the tip of Pike's fingers to give him a squeeze. "Nice ummm…nice to meet you, Pike," he mumbled while staring at the young girl's body.

* * *

After the meeting had ended, Sydney waited for all the other members to leave. Then, she locked the door and ordered her personal communication device to establish a secure line.

After a soft buzzing sound, an old man's hologram appeared in front of her. He gave her a smile as he brushed his pinky finger along the edge of the lapel of his immaculate suit. Then, he raised the teacup in his right hand and took a sip. "What's the matter?" He asked calmly.

"We've got a problem," Sydney told him.

"The _problem_ that we've talked about before?" The man raised his eyebrows, and Sydney gave him a nod.

"Well," the man said. "I've already told you. You need to take of her. You can not have her in the council if she refuses to vote in your favor."

"I know, but I can't take care of her without having people raise suspicion. If somehow she's hurt or worse, everyone will know it's me."

"No, no, no, I wasn't talking about hurting her physically. That's too extreme and messy," the man shook his head. He took another sip of tea, and suggested, "all you need to do is to kick her out of the council."

"You don't think I've thought about that? The member of the council can only be removed for reasons like treason or other high crimes. I have to at least prove that she's no longer suitable for her job as a council member. Otherwise the other members will not vote in my favor."

"Then find a reason. It's war time. Your planet is being attacked. Your people are angry and afraid, including the council members. The Chancellor was almost killed by your enemies for crying out loud. Use that fear. Use that anger. They may not want to vote her out, but they will have to if you convince them that having her in the council would make it impossible to win the war."

"I could probably try that, but she's a prominent surgeon, and she's a beloved council member. She has a lot of people on her side."

"Well, they will eventually switch to your side once she's gone from the council," the man assured her. "It shouldn't be too hard. Isn't the Chancellor and the other two members, who always back her on the war issue, now in hospital? Better kick her out before he returns or you won't be able to initiate _our plan_."

"I know," Sydney replied simply. "It was hell of a luck that the three of them were temporarily gone from the council."

The man put his cup back into the saucer that was in his left hand and smiled. "It was, wasn't it?"

He paused for a bit, and continued, "now if you would excuse me, I am going to enjoy more tea."

A light buzz, his hologram disappeared. Sydney sat there by herself and pondered for a long time, before she slowly pulled her lips into a cruel smile.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Sitting in her hover shuttle, or "floater" as most people would call, Abby nervously tapped her fingers on the control panel under her hands. She eventually commanded, "call Marcus Kane."

The system answered her with its usual soft voice. "Calling Lieutenant General Marcus Kane. Rerouting through the command center now…."

"No, no, stop," Abby ordered. "Do not route the call through the command center. Call him privately."

"Understood. Calling Lieutenant General Marcus Kane..."

She waited, and her patience started to run out as the buzzing white noise went on and on. When someone had finally picked up her call, she let out that deep breath she had been holding.

"Marcus Kane," Marcus' voice came through, along with a loud humming sound that seemed to be coming from a running engine.

"Marcus, it's me," Abby said.

"Abby?" Marcus exclaimed. After a brief pause he lowered his voice and asked, "is everything okay? Did something happen to Jaha?"

"No, no, it's not Jaha. He's fine, still in recovery," Abby told him. "It's about Clarke."

"Clarke?" Marcus let that name slip out as he wondered what could possibly happen to Clarke. Then suddenly, something occurred to him. "Wait...she wasn't-was Clarke on that ship that has-"

"I don't know, Marcus," Abby told him honestly. "That's why I am calling you. I know it's against the rules but...The last time I spoke to her was before she enlisted herself into the army...w-what happened to that ship anyway? Have you guys figured out a way to make contact with it again?"

"No, no, I don't think so, it's-that ship has..." Marcus hesitantly stopped. Though, he knew that there was no better way to say it, so he chose to answer Abby honestly. "That ship has crashed."

"What?" Abby exclaimed and clutched her chest where her heart shuddered in a heavy thump.. She swallowed hard and shook her head, before she asked, "was she on that ship? Can you figure out if she boarded that ship? I mean, you do have a list of all the passengers on that ship, don't you?"

"No, I don't have the list yet. We are experiencing some communication outage between us and the main database system. We don't know for sure who boarded that ship yet."

"How do you know it has crashed then?" Abby asked.

"Because I am at the crash site right now," Marcus told her as he descended from the hovering helicopter that he was on with his team. He landed right in front of the crashed ship. His team fanned out, forming a defense circle with their weapons ready to fire while he and a few others examined the site.

"What do you see, Marcus?" Abby asked impatiently.

"Abby...I don't think you-"

"Tell me," Abby demanded, her voice shaking a little.

"I see...a burnt ship. A part of it, at least," Marcus told her as he looked at the burnt ship skeleton. Hundreds of scorched dead bodies were buried in rubbles.

Having discovered that it was only the front part of the ship, he searched for the other part, and eventually found it at the bottom of the cliff behind the crash site. He waved his arms at several of his people telling them to go down and check.

"Are there any...survivors?" Abby asked him after she got tired of waiting for him to give her more information voluntarily.

Marcus went quiet as he looked at the bodies. "I don't..." He hesitantly spoke, not sure if he should tell Abby the truth.

"Are there any survivors, Marcus?" Abby raised her voice.

Marcus looked around again, and this time he noticed something. Away from the crashed ship, there was a small piled of bodies that apparently had been placed together by someone.

He took a few of his men and scouted the surrounding area. Eventually, he found a campsite inside the woods not too far away from the ship. He saw some dead bodies there, a fire pit that had been put out, and some trash left behind.

He checked the bodies briefly before he came to the conclusion that some ship crash survivors engaged a group of 02 warriors there. From the trails people left, he realized that some survivors had headed to the east.

"Marcus, are you still there?" Abby's voice came, trembling. "Is Clarke-" She wasn't able to finish her question because she couldn't let that word out from her mouth. She feared that if she ever spoke that out loud, it would become true.

"No, I don't see her here," Marcus answered her immediately. "I mean, apparently a group of passengers made out of here alive. Clarke-she could very well be one of them."

"But, you don't see her at the crash site?"

"No, no, I think the survivor probably left for the nearest base. We have a base east of here, and it's about two days walk. I'm gonna call them and see if the survivors have already arrived."

"Sure, whatever you find out, just let me know, okay?"

"Sure. I have to go," Marcus told her before he hung up.

Abby took a few deep breaths as she pressed her forehead on the control panel. Well at least Clarke wasn't among the bodies. She told herself, but that didn't give her any relief.

She had a feeling that the whole world was about to fall upon her, but she was too helpless to do anything about it.

* * *

Sitting under a tree, Clarke cautiously stared at Pike and his men from a distance.

Those men had voluntarily joined them after leaving the village. The four of them now sat in the center with a group of people around them. They were bragging about their kills and their experience in the army.

One of them, Lanston, was telling a story of how he had slayed an enemy. He asked another guy, Martin, to do a demonstration with him. Martin obliged in chuckles. Lanston held him from behind with his arm choking him while doing a finger gun. He shoved his fingers towards Martin's temple and jittered them while saying "bang" loudly.

They both laughed, and the crowd cheered excitedly. For some reason, that made Clarke feel very uncomfortable.

Bellamy, Raven and a few others came to her side. Jasper threw her a fruit they had just picked from a tree. She caught it and raised her eyebrows at him. Jasper gave her a smile and took a bite on his first.

Clarke pulled out her combat knife and cut the fruit into half. She made sure that there was nothing looking abnormal inside, before she started eating while watching Pike and his men.

"We need to do something about them," she eventually suggested. "They are just…."

She stuck there, unable to come up with an adjective that was appropriate enough to describe Pike and his men. Brutal? Cruel? Bloodthirst? Or maybe all those things combined? Was there a word for that? They appeared to her like someone who got possessed by the war. Killing people made them feel thrilled.

"Yeah, they kinda give me creeps," Raven commented.

Jasper and Monty shrugged at each other and agreed in mumbles while eating their stuff.

Bellamy licked his lips hesitantly and took a glance at Pike and his men. "They are traumatized," he eventually said. "They needed some sort of release."

"Shooting a 5 year old at point blank is not a _release,_ " Clarke said. The dead girl's eyes, they still haunted her, making her feel cold.

Bellamy let out a sigh. "Look, I am not saying that what Pike did there was right. It was wrong, but...he was-he was angry and he rushed into a bad decision. It was just-it was a fucked up situation, and…."

He eventually trailed off, unable to come up with an excuse good enough for Pike since he knew it was wrong. He shook his head and took out a fruit from his bag. He ate it in silence while staring at Pike closely.

Clarke finished hers and tossed the dark pit into the tall grass. She wiped her fingers on the side of her pants and sheathed her knife. "I just..when I enlisted myself into the army, when I got on that ship, I thought we were here to fight the armies of 02. I thought we were here to fight the warriors and the soldiers, but...three days later we are shooting at civilians and kids?"

" _We_ didn't shoot them," Bellamy reminded her. "He did." He threw his chin at Pike.

"Well, we kinda let it happen," Clarke said. "We could have saved them."

"You didn't have the time to, and neither did I. We didn't know what he was gonna do back then."

"I could have at least saved that little girl," Clarke said. "She was-she was right there and…."

Bellamy sighed. "He wouldn't have let you. Besides, what were you gonna do with her? Take her with us? Or leave her there and let her survive on her own in this war?"

"I could have-I could have taken her with us and-hell I could just drop her off at one of the 02 villages and run," Clarke muttered. "My point is, she could have lived, Bellamy."

"Look, I know that," Bellamy told her. "I wasn't saying that it was better to kill her or anything like that. I was saying that...what happened, happened. You need to stop blaming yourself. Pike did a horrible thing, and we have to...we have no choice but to deal with it."

"Yeah, you are right. We have to deal with it. We have deal with him first," Clarke bit the words out. She rolled her eyes when she saw Pike laughing at two of their people reenacting the choke hold kill.

"It'll only be two or three more days before we arrive at the base," Bellamy told her. "I guess we could just...report him when we get there. They will take care of it."

"Two or three more days?" Raven exclaimed. "We have already been walking for three days!"

"I know," Clarke said, shrugging. "We are slowing down, because everyone's too exhausted, and we are out of food too. We have to spend some time hunting or gathering, starting from today. That's why we are budgeting two or three more days."

"Fine," Raven rolled her eyes.

Bellamy gave them a brief nod, before he stood up and called for everyone to regroup and keep moving

"Don't worry about him," Monty told Clarke. "He's on your side. He's just...dude totally has some serious past. He's probably been through more than we ever have."

"What secrets does he have?" Clarke frowned as she glanced at Bellamy.

Jasper and Monty shared a look before they both shrugged at the same time. "No idea."

"Didn't you guys know him before boarding the ship?" Raven asked them.

"We did, in the boot camp," Jasper told her. "He was like the model recruit there, scoring A+ at everything, but he never really talked about himself. Dude totally has a story."

"That, I agree," Raven commented, before she stood up and followed the rest of the team.

* * *

The next day the group covered even less journey than the day before. Everyone was demanding rest before nightfall.

They set up a camp inside the woods, and built a fire. Bellamy put up a patrol team as usual, while the others teamed up on their own either to hunt or to gather food.

Clarke and a few others went to search for food in the woods. They searched for fruits and starchy, tuberous crops they could gather, but they found none. Everything seemed to be either unripe or gone.

They treaded through the woods, until they noticed some fresh marks on the trees barks made by some animal's horn.

Raven excitedly nudged Clarke when she saw an animal, which looked like a hybrid of a deer and a bull, with newly grown horns behind the tall grass several yards away from them.

One of the guys who came with them, Alex, raised his rifle in haste, but the sound of him loading his gun spooked the animal. It stopped chewing and anxiously looked around, before it decided to run.

They followed the animal closely, until it leaped over a row of bushes and disappeared. They squeezed their way through the bushes after it and bumped into three 02s in surprise.

The 02s were just as startled as them. One tall man immediately shielded the other two people behind his back while starting at the four gun wielding soldiers who had just gotten out from behind the bushes.

"Please," the man said to them slowly. "We do not want any trouble." He nervously stared at the guns that were pointing at him and the other two people, before he lifted his left foot and took a step back.

The two people behind him moved back with him while squeezing the strap of their baskets they carried on their back in fear.

Clarke figured that they were probably gatherers, since they were all carrying baskets with fruits and mushrooms. They also wore herb sack on their waist belts. They were unarmed. The only weapon they had, were herb sickles. The tall man was carrying a small blowgun on his belt. He also had a short dagger sheathed on the side of his right thigh, but he had his hands raised in the air with no intention to attack.

Clarke clenched her lips and gave him a hesitant nod as she lowered her gun, though she still stared at them closely with her index finger pressing against the trigger. She gestured the others to lower their guns too.

The three 02s took a few more steps back before they spun around and started to run. One of them dropped his basket in panic. Fruits fell out, almost tripping him.

Alex raised his gun at them again, and loaded it loudly on purpose. That sound scared the three people more, and they ran faster. Alex and another guy laughed.

Clarke shot them a cold glare. "We are not looking for more trouble," she drawled. "We've already had plenty."

Alex turned his head sideways and spat in disappointment. "Chill, I was just kidding," he argued.

"What if they thought you were gonna shoot them, and they fought back?"

"Well then we'll just have to shoot them, I guess," the other guy said lazily.

Clarke sighed and shook her head.

Alex turned his face sideways and spat in disappointment. "Those assholes slaughtered our people. We should at least show them that we are not some fucking cowards."

"Shooting at unarmed civilians is a very coward move," Clarke pointed out.

"Well they had fucking sickles! That should count as weapons, right? That dude had a blowgun, a blowgun! That's definitely a weapon, right?" He turned to the other guy and asked, "right?"

"Hell yeah! He had a dagger too! I mean, we all saw how those bastards killed our people with those fucking blowguns," the guy said. "I say we follow those motherfuckers and find out where they live. We go in and we shoot the shit out of them. Show them who's the boss."

"No! We are not going to do that!" Clarke squeezed those word through her clenched teeth. She pointed a finger at them and said, "do you hear me?"

The guy flung her hand away and shoved her back. "Whatever," he said. "You are a fucking pussy."

Clarke fisted her hands and stared at him, her chest heaving hard. She used every single piece of strength she had to stop herself from throwing a punch at his face. "Let's just find some food and go back to the camp," she suggested.

"Yeah, let's just find some food and go back to the camp," Alex mimicked her tone, making it sound as silly as possible on purpose. "Like we have fucking time to play house with you. We didn't just come all the way here to dig mud yams or to eat fruits that are tart as shit. We are fucking soldiers. We came here to kill."

"Damn right, bro," the other guy patted his shoulder. He went to pick up the fruit basket left there by one of the 02s. He gave Clarke a finger, before he left with Alex.

"Geez, talking about assholes," Raven drawled loudly, and gave them each a finger when they turned back. Clarke just shook her head and sighed again.

* * *

The next morning they started to march again. It felt like forever torture in hell to everyone. The scorching sun, the humidity, the bugs. The dead people's faces that haunted them. The enemies who might be hiding in the trees and behind the tall grass, who could jump out at them at any time.

Everyone seemed to be falling apart when they had realized what they had gone through. They started with about 80 men, but now they were down to less than 40. The great frustration, the fear and the rage made them paranoid enough that at one point, they just shot at something together in panic, thinking that it was an enemy hiding behind a tree. It turned out to be a rock, whose appearance looked nothing like a person.

That injured soldier who had an abnormally high fever had gotten worse, and eventually he started seizing, causing a big stir among the crowd.

Clarke tried to save him, but ended up watching him die helplessly. The death fell so heavy on her that she started to shake.

That became the last straw, and the entire group started to have a melt down. One man sat down and wrapped his arms around his shins. He started to sob, and then that sob turned into a loud wail. He cried breathlessly as he rocked his body and back and forth in a creepy way. Other people shook their heads at him and moved away from him in disgust.

People kept asking Bellamy how far away they were from the base, and why they weren't there yet. No matter what answer he gave them, they would just fuss, curse, spat or shake their heads.

Some of them started to question if he was able to lead. Some challenged him, asking if he even knew how to read a map correctly, and if he was really able to find directions.

They demanded to see the map themselves. Then, they started to argue whether Bellamy had made the right choice for taking a detour or even to begin the journey in the first place. Some of them firmly insisted that if they had stayed put at where the ship had crashed, they would have been rescued by now.

Clarke wasn't in a situation any better than Bellamy. Some questioned if she could indeed perform the right medical procedure. They claimed that it was her fault that the person had gotten that high fever in the first place, and it was her fault that he had died.

Eventually, people started to accuse Bellamy and Clarke for making poor decisions. They fussed loudly. Raven and a few others argued with them.

After a lot of finger pointing and name calling, the chaos seemed to have stopped when Bellamy fired a warning shot and reassured them that they would arrive at the base soon. He urged everyone to follow him closely, and the group reluctantly moved forward again.

 _20 more miles to go_. Clarke thought to herself as she dragged herself through the woods with the others. Everything was beyond unbearable.

She suddenly wondered if her mother had heard about the crashed ship. She knew Abby would be very worried, if she had heard about it and especially if she had known that she was on the ship. She wished that she had a way to contact her mother, but at the same times, she didn't want to talk to Abby at all. In fact, she hadn't really talked to Abby since she had left home. She had sent her a text message letting her know that she was in the boot camp, but they hadn't talked. She just didn't want to listen to Abby yelling angrily at her..

 _Yelling angrily. That seems to be the only thing everybody is doing right now._ Clarke thought as she shook her head.

The group slowly advanced through the woods, walking along the edge of the elevated land that was covered by thick bushes. When the group suddenly stopped, Clarke maneuvered herself through everyone while pulling out her gun.

"What's going on?" She asked Bellamy in a whisper after having noticed that he was looking at something anxiously through the bushes.

Bellamy titled his head to the other side of the bushes. Then he waved his arm frantically at Alex and a few others who had their guns raised, telling them to put them down.

Clarke took a look and immediately realized why everybody seemed so nervous.

Below the elevated land, several yards away from them, there were a group of 02s gathered at the side of a pond. They were young, probably about her age. Some of them were swimming, while others were just sitting or lying there lazily.

One girl deliberately splashed some water at a guy who was in the water. The guy came at her and dragged her into the water in everyone's loud laughter. The girl complained softly while spitting water out from her mouth, and then she giggled along with the others. One of the guys who sat by the pond, threw a pebble at them and said something loudly in Trigedasleng. Then everyone just burst into laughter.

Clarke had no idea what he had said, but she figured that it was a joke, because everyone was laughing like it was the funniest they had ever heard of.

She looked at the group closely. She saw a couple of them with war paints on their faces and warrior tattoos on their arms and their backs. She also noticed that they had their weapons placed on the shore. The others, though, looked like ordinary 02 teenagers. It seemed to her like this was a group of teenagers having fun in the water in a hot afternoon.

"Let's just keep quiet and go around them," Clarke whispered to Bellamy.

Bellamy nodded hesitantly as he carefully studied the group. Nodding at Clarke again, Bellamy moved slowly behind the bushes while telling everyone to just keep quiet and keep moving.

Just as they started moving again, one of the 02s down there dived into the water and made a loud splash. That sound spooked someone in Clarke's team, and they fired their gun.

Clarke flinched at that sound, before she turned to look for the shooter. Then, she heard a scream coming from the 02 teenagers.

The guy who had told the joke, fell into the water. His blood gushed out from the wound on his back, coloring the crystal clear water pink. His friends screamed and yelled. Some of them started to cry. Some of them tried to pull him out from the water and save him, while the others picked up their weapons in a hurry.

One of them located the army behind the bushes, and they charged at them in rage.

More shot were fired. Then, a lot of Clarke's people leaped out from behind the bushes and charged at the 02 teenagers too.

The 02s were outnumbered. After the warriors were all killed, the rest of them turned around and fled in fear.

Clarke didn't even get to process what had just happened, when she heard Pike giving a short yet loud speech to the group, asking everyone to follow him.

Despite Clarke and Bellamy yelling "no", a lot of people followed Pike and chased down those fleeing 02s into a nearby village.

When the villagers saw a group of armed people rushing in, they immediately grabbed their weapons and fought back.

Clarke and a few others tried to stop them in vain. They yelled and shouted but their voices got drowned by the sound of guns firing and by the 02s' furious battlecries.

Clarke kept dragging her people back, but nobody bothered to listen to her. She wasn't able to stop the bloodbath from happening, just like she had not been able to save that guy with a high fever.

Standing there helplessly, she watched people getting killed, one after another, right in front of her. There was too much blood. Too much.

People came at her, and then they were gunned down. She squeezed the grip of her gun as she wondered if she should join the fight. But, whom should she be shooting at? Should she shoot that woman who raised a machete at one of her people because her son had just been killed? Should she shoot that teenager who had just slit one of her people's throat? Should she shoot at the old guy who furiously chopped one of her people into half?

Should she shoot at someone? Anyone?

She swallowed hard while holding her gun with her shaking arms. Her heart just thumped over and over at each gunshot and every scream she had heard.

When the last villager fell into the pool of blood, she felt that her heart had just stopped beating. She numbled looked down, and saw the spilled blood on the ground. It was right under her foot. It looked like a crimson hell that was about to devour her, to pull her down and to trap her in forever.

What terrified her more, was the loud cheer she was hearing from her people. They rallied while waving their guns and fists in the air like they had just won a major battle with honor.

Among them, there was Pike, who stood there with a fist raised firmly in the air and a proud look on his blood covered face.

Enraged, Clarke dashed to him. She grabbed his collar and stared at him, before she shoved him back forcefully and yelled, "what the hell is wrong with you?! You just murdered over 30 people!"

"Over 30 enemies," Pike correct her in a hiss. He threw his hand out and pointed at all the dead bodies in military uniforms. "They murdered 12 of us. You don't think you should say something about that?"

"They could all have lived, if you hadn't lead us into this village in the first place," Clarke argue angrily. "And those kids at that pond. They've done nothing to us!"

"Nothing that you've known of," Pike to her. "Even if they hadn't killed anyone, they will, sooner or later."

"Hey, they had weapons." One of the Pike's men shrugged. "And they came at us. What could we do? We had to defend ourselves, alright?" His words earned a few loud cheers from the crowd.

"They came us with weapons because someone fired their gun when they shouldn't have," Clarke growled at him.

"Oh so you don't think they'd sneak into our camp at night and slaughter every single one of us?" Another man spoke up as he stepped forwards. "You think they'd let us go if we run into them unarmed? They are the 02s. They are fucking savages. They are our enemies. We need to kill them first before they kill us."

"Oh come on!" Clarke said loudly as she looked at everyone in the group. "This is just wrong!"

"No, it's not, " Pike told her. "We are just doing what we are supposed to do."

"We are supposed to win a war, not killing for fun!" Clarke yelled. "Not all of them deserve to die."

"Oh, okay, the princess here thinks that we shouldn't kill some of the 02s," Pike said in a teasing voice as he pointed at Clarke. "So what exactly do you propose, hmm? Should we just sit down with the 02s and have a beer together? Oh I know, maybe we should also braid each other's hair while we talk about our feelings. How about that, hmmm?"

A few loud giggles burst out from the crowd, and Pike laughed coldly. He came at Clarke and stared at her, so close that his nose was practically on Clarke's.

"Listen, girl," he hissed. "I don't know where you are from, or where you got all your stupid ideas. Let me tell you one thing, we are at war. We joined the army, and we have to win."

"Shooting a 5 year old girl is not winning the war, Pike. That's just pathetic. You killed her because you were angry and you wanted revenge. You just want to see them suffer," Clarke said to him as she stared back at him fiercely.

"Of course I want revenge!" Pike yelled angrily. He turned to the crowd and raised his voice even louder as he slammed a hand to his chest. "Anybody here who _doesn't_ want revenge?"

He paused briefly as he looked at each and every face in the crowd. "How many of you had your friends or family killed or injured in all those 02 attacks and bombings on our planet, hmmm? How many of you would still want to make peace with the 02s after watching those whom you care about being slaughtered by them, hmmm? How many more of us has to die, before we take actions? Enough is enough! They want a war, we'll give them a war! They kill one of us, we kill ten of them! Blood must have blood!"

He gave Clarke a cold glance, before he raised his right hand and held it into a steady fist. "Blood must have blood!" He yelled repeatedly, and a lot of people started to chant with him.

Clarke clenched her teeth at the scene. She raised her gun and fired a warning shot. After the crowd had quieted down, she announced loudly, "this has to stop. We can not just shoot at each and every 02s. We came here to win a war. We did not come here to commit a genocide. We are better than this."

A moment of silence devoured everyone. She exchanged a look with Bellamy, before she turned to Pike and told him firmly, "if all you want is revenge, Pike, you are on your own. You are no longer welcomed here. "

Pike snorted and looked at the others, as if he had just heard something beyond absurd. "Who died and made you the Queen?" He taunted.

"Yeah, who died and made you the Queen?" Some woman in the crowd scoffed. Then she came to Pike's side and stood with him. "I say we all follow Lieutenant Pike, and kick this bitch out. Who's with me?"

Some people immediately responded with loud "yes" and came to her side. Others were confused. They hesitantly looked at her, then at Pike, then at Clarke and Bellamy.

"Come on, people!" That woman yelled. "The 02s have destroyed our homes and killed so many of our people. We were all there when they killed those who were with us! Have you not seen how they slit their throats? Have you not seen how they ambushed us with those poisonous darts? Lieutenant Pike is right! We have to take actions. We can't just expect that those savages would just put down their weapons if we treat them nicely enough. Who's with me?"

More people joined her, after shaking their heads at Clarke.

After a short, awkward silence, one of Pike's men said to the rest of the group, "come on, kids. You really want to follow some rookie in this place like this? They don't have a damn clue of what they should do. Look at how many people have already died because of their poor judgement. Do you want to die too?"

The rest of the group whispered to each other nervously, before they joined Pike's team too.

They left Clarke standing there with Raven, Monty, Jasper and a few others. Too stunned, Clarke opened her mouth but couldn't get a word out.

She looked at Bellamy, who seemed still undecided. Bellamy sighed and flung his cap away from his head. He tossed it to the ground and walked to Clarke's side too.

"Oh, looks like someone got herself banished, biatch," Alex and his friends taunted Clarke in a loud voice, and a lot of people laughed.

Clarke took a deep breath as she stared at everyone. She stared at all those people united behind Pike. She stared at their pale, exhausted faces. She saw nothing but hatred, rage and fear in their eyes. It was as if whatever had possessed Pike and his men was contagious, and it had just gotten hold of everyone.

Glaring at the proud Pike, Clarke took a few steps towards him. A few people immediately blocked her way with their guns raised.

"You can't run a group like this, Pike," Clarke bit her words out. There was so much anger in her chest, that her voice started to shake. "You can't just use everybody's fear and hatred and turn them into killing machines."

Pike scoffed loudly. He flung his arm out and grabbed Clarke's hair. In people's gasps, he yanked her hair to force her to face the crowd close. He yelled beside her ear. "Look at them. Open your damn eyes and take a good look at them. Fear and hatred are the only things they've got! You think having mercy will get you anywhere in this war? You think being nice will save your ass? Think again!"

After a short pause, he added, "take your stupid, worthless mercy elsewhere, princess, because you are no longer welcomed here."

He shoved Clarke away violently, causing her to fall down on the ground. He gave her a condescending glance, before he raised his rifle above his head and turned back to the crowd.

The crowd cheered with their guns raised above their heads too. That loud sound chilled Clarke's spine. _How can this possibly be happening?_ She asked herself. _How the hell can this happen?!_

"Leave," Pike ordered coldly as he pointed his gun at Clarke and those who sided with her as a warning. "Get the hell outta here."

Clarke stared back. She reached for her gun, but then she wondered, what she was going to do with it? Yeah, of course, she could shoot Pike, and maybe his men too, but what about the others? Should she just shoot everyone?

She shook her head at him, too disappointed to say anything. She got up, grabbed her things and headed into the woods without looking back. Raven and the others followed her closely.

"Hey, Clarke," Bellamy called as he grabbed her arm. "We really shouldn't be walking in the woods at night."

"We have to report him to the command center," Clarke told him. "There...there are rules. He-he should have just...you can't just kill people like that!"

"We will do that once we get to the base, okay?" Bellamy persuaded, "but we really need a plan first. We can't just wander in the-"

He was cut off, because he tripped on a wire. There came a slight click, followed by a swooshing sound. The next thing he knew, was a big net coming down from above. It covered all of them and wrapped them inside.

They struggled inside, but the more they struggled the more entangled they got. They started to fire their guns at each and every moving shadow around them while trying to break free.

After they ran out of ammos, a group of 02s emerged out from the darkness. They dragged them out from the net one by one. They tied them up, gagged them and blindfolded them. Then, they were all knocked out.

* * *

With a loud gasp, Clarke's eyes shot wide open. She sat up and reached for her gun, but it was no longer with her.

She looked around, and found herself in a dark, moldy cell. Moss were all over the stone walls, and in front of her there was a rusty gate made from metal bars. It was locked.

She leaned forward and grabbed the bars as she took a peek outside. It was too dark for her to see anything, but she could heard people breathing somewhere nearby.

"Raven? Bellamy?" She called. "Monty? Jasper?"

Her people immediately replied. She felt a little relieved.

She shook the metal bar violently, but they wouldn't budge at all. She went for the lock the next, but she couldn't get it open either. When she fumbled on the floor searching for a possible tool, she heard a door open somewhere.

She saw burning torches at first, and then she saw the faces of three 02s. They were fully armored with war paint on their faces and weapons unsheathed in their hands.

Two men, who were holding the torches, walked behind a fierce looking, dark skin woman. They came to her, and the two men stood on each side of her cell door.

The woman stood by the door and leaned in, looking at Clarke, and Clarke wondered if those flames in her eyes were nothing but hate and disgust.

Clarke stared back, ever though her calf muscles were cramping in fear.

"Teik her kom Heda (Take her to Heda)," the woman commanded, and one of the men opened the gate. He had to bent forward and squeeze his way in because he was too big for the small door. He grabbed Clarke despite her struggles and screams, and threw her on his shoulder like she was a bag of flour.

Clarke could hear Raven calling her name, and Bellamy asking where they were taking her furiously. "Let go of me!" She yelled, kicked and squirmed. "Let go of me!"

"Quiet, or I made you," the woman threatened her, before she told the other man, "ste hir en ai em op (Stay here and watch them)."

 _Did she just say stay here and do something to them?_ Clarke wondered. When she thought about what this huge guy could do to her, and what could happen to her next, she couldn't stop herself from trembling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Oh looks like Lexa is gonna show up soooooon :D
> 
> P. S. I am no Trigedasleng expert. I used the translator and the dictionary online to translate them. If I made any mistakes, please leave a review or PM me so I can correct it.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The guy carried Clark all the way out from the dark prison. Clarke was momentarily blinded by the noon sunlight.

Then, she saw the man moving a cover back to block the exit of the dungeon she had been kept in. The cover looked like a pile of foliage and animal feces behind a dead tree, something she'd have easily ignored if she had been walking in the woods on her own.

Being carried through the woods, Clarke had to close her eyes since she was constantly being hit in her face by the long twigs of the trees. She struggled the entire time while calling for help, but nobody heard her because nobody was there. The only living creatures that were around were a few tree rabbits - a nickname given to a specie that were local to this planet. They were tree dwellers covered in fur and had two long antennas like rabbit ears. The moment they saw them, they quickly went hiding in their nests.

The guy treaded through the woods swiftly with Clarke on his shoulder. Clarke was surprised that a guy as tall and strong as him would make little to no noise when travelling on foot.

They eventually entered a village. Or maybe it could be a camp? Clarke could hardly tell since she was looking at everything upside down. She was having a really bad head rush, and she felt that all the content in her stomach was about to pour out.

The guy stopped at the gate, and grabbed Clarke's waist. He put her down in haste, and Clarke felt like she was being hurled away from his shoulder.

He twisted her arms behind her back and tied her up again. He gave her a furious glare when she bit his forearm and left two rows of bloody teeth mark there.

Clarke shuddered, thinking maybe he'd smash her head with his fists now, but he just shook his head and slurred something in Trigedasleng. He carelessly wiped the blood off his arm, before he carefully looped the ropes around her arms and her wrist to make sure she couldn't break free from them.

Clarke quickly scanned the surroundings. She confirmed that she was inside a camp. There were a dozen of tents around her. In the far left corner, she saw horses and other animal mounts being tied to a row of hitching posts.

02 guards were all over the place. Each tents had at least two of them guarding its entrance. They all turned to look at her. Some looked curious but most only had resentment in their eyes.

She turned to look at the guy who carried her here. He was almost twice as tall as her, and very muscular. A big, messy beard covered his jaw, his mouth and part of his nose too. Half of his face was covered in tattoos and scars. There were two long, bulging scars on his forehead. A crescent shaped one was right above his right eyebrow. The other one went from the middle of his forehead all the way to the left corner of it. They made him look like he was being angry all the time.

_Or maybe he truly is angry all the time._ Clarke thought while staring at the flames of rage in his eyes. When he reached for his weapon and pulled it out, she squinted her eyes shut and turned away in reflex.

The man snorted and spun her around by grabbing the rope knot right above her wrists. He shoved her forward, forcing her to walk towards a big tent that was in the middle of the camp.

"Where are we going exactly?" Clarke asked while stumbling forward, but the man didn't answer her.

When they arrived at the entrance of that tent, Clarke noticed a flag hanging beside the door, and on the flag there was a hand drawn sign. It looked very much like those biohazard signs she had seen at her mother's hospital.

_Crap._ She shivered at the possible things that might be inside a tent with a biohazard sign. She refused to go in no matter how hard the man was pushing her.

The man raised his eyebrows and stared at her. "Get in," he ordered.

"No, not unless you tell me what this place is, or what you are gonna do to me," Clarke said firmly, while wondering if she really had a choice.

"Get. in," the man ordered again. When Clarke refused again, he mumbled something impatiently and put his right arm around her waist. He lifted her up and carried her in like he was carrying a bundle of firewood.

Clarke struggled, yelled and screamed, waving her legs in the air like someone who couldn't swim just got kicked into a pool.

She was put down once the door was closed behind them. The man slammed his foot on the back of her knees and forced her to kneel. Then, he put his hand on her head and held her head down forcefully.

"Heda," he said. This time his voice was surprisingly humble.

Clarke wondered whom he was talking to, and she tried to lift her head to take a look, but the man wouldn't allow her. All she could see was her own uniform which was ripped and covered in dirt, a carpet or maybe a piece of large mat under her, and the dirt covered ground.

All of a sudden, the man let go of her hair and moved away from her, as if he had just gotten a silent order. Clarke slowly raised her head, and there she saw an exquisite throne a few feet away from her, surrounded by 02 warriors. It seemed to have been made from a dead tree's huge root, or maybe it was that dead tree in a whole?

Her attention quickly got drawn to that dark haired woman who was sitting in the throne. She was about her age. Her long, dark braids hugged her war paint covered face. The way the black paint trailed down along the sides of her cheeks, it looked as if it had been washed down by tears.

She was wearing a full set of hand made armors. The leather straps were dyed in a dark color, while the metal sheets that were forged into the shape of her shoulder were in cold steel gray. The only bright color on her was her one shoulder cape. It was deep red, like it had been drenched in blood.

Then there were her deep blue eyes. They were probably the most beautiful yet the coldest Clarke had ever seen. She was having a hard time putting what she had seen in them into actual words. She saw some hatred, and maybe some disgust. There was definitely anger. Maybe a bit of curiosity too? And there was something else hidden deep inside. A glimpse of the shadow behind all the burning flames and dancing sparkles. It was something softer yet heavier. Was it sorrow? Or could it possibly be mercy maybe?

_Who the hell is she?_ Clarke wondered while looking at the woman. She figured that she was some sort of leader, from the way she was posing herself among all the 02 warriors, and the fact that she had so many warriors inside the tent holding their heads down humbly. Was she a clan leader or something? How could someone become a clan leader at a such young age?

"Who are you?" Clarke eventually asked, after having finally accepted that she had been captured along with her friends by the 02s. She forced herself not to think about all those horrible stories she had heard about how the 02s would treat their prisoner. Though, the scene where Pike's men had been cut into pieces and skewed on the poles jumped into her mind vividly, and she swallowed hard.

The warriors inside the tent fussed at her question, as if she had just said something insulting, but the woman in the throne just raised her right hand and silenced them. Staring at Clarke closely, she pulled a corner of her lips into a taunting smile before she said, "shouldn't you say nothing but your name, your rank and your number when captured?"

Clarke licked her lips nervously as she now recalled the manual for new recruits. It said that whenever they were captured, they should give no information to the enemies other than their name, rank and number. "Well...I don't even want to give you my name. How about that?"

"I don't really need to know your name," the woman told her. "Just that you are one of them is more than enough."

Clarke tasted the rage in that last sentence, especially when she had said "one of them". For a split second there she thought the woman would jump at her and plunge her weapon into her heart.

However, the woman just examined her closely for a moment before she said, "do you want to live?"

"Do you even have to ask?"

The girl snorted. "That's what I thought," she murmured. She paused briefly, before she continued, "consider it your lucky day, 03 soldier, because I want to offer you a deal."

"Then the answer would be no," Clarke replied immediately. "I am not going to make a deal with the enemies."

"Then you'll die a horrible death," the man who carried her out from the dungeon threatened as he pulled his sword out.

Clarke swallowed hard at that patch of dried blood on the leather sheath of the man's sword. She knew he meant it, because no one could ever fake that hatred in his eyes. It was so genuine.

She stared back at him while biting her lips hard to stop them from shivering. "I am not afraid to die," she claimed after taking a deep breath.

The girl in the throne huffed out a soft scoff. "Then why are you shaking?" She pointed out the obvious.

Clarke clenched her lips and turned to look at her. She didn't even notice herself shaking until now. She fisted her cold sweat coated hands and said, "if you want to kill me, just do it."

The girl scoffed again. "Alright," she nodded, and beckoned at the tall guy. She whispered something to him, and he nodded back.

Clarke's heart suddenly jumped into her throat when she saw the guy coming at her. She forced herself to keep her eyes open and held her breath.

She thought he'd swing his sword at her throat now, but the man just gave her a look of scorn, before he left the tent.

The breath Clarke had been holding burst through her throat, too fast it made her head spin a little. Her heart was back in her chest again, pounding hard. The sudden adrenaline spike made her muscles tingling.

During the long, awkward wait, Clarke held the leader's gaze while wondering what would happen next. The warriors in the tent practically stabbed her over and over with their eyes.

The man eventually came back with the woman and the other guy whom Clarke had seen in the dungeon. They also brought Raven and the others into the tent.

"Raven!" Clarke exclaimed as she got up from the ground. She stumbled to them while looking at everyone to make sure that they were all okay.

"We are fine," Raven told her quickly. "Just..." she moved her arms apart a little, letting Clarke know that they were all tied up.

Clarke was dragged back to where she had been kneeling. Her friends were forced to kneel beside her. Some of them were shaking too, and their faces were really pale.

The woman in the throne glanced at Clarke coldly, before she said, "I know you may act like you are not afraid to die, but what about your people here? I'm sure one or two of them would really enjoy living than dying."

"None of us are traitors," Clarke told her firmly, thought she couldn't be sure. "Whatever it is that you are offering, we are not interested."

"Tell me," the woman said slowly. "How do you know that what I'm about to offer will make you a traitor?"

"Because I'm not stupid?" Clarke taunted as she stared back. "If you want to kill us, just do it. We will not betray our people."

The girl smirked as she scanned them one after another slowly. Her eyes eventually fell on Clarke again. "I am going to ask you one last time. If you refuse me again, I will kill your people slowly, one by one, in the most painful way-"

She glanced at Raven and added, "starting with _her_."

Clarke swallowed in fear as she looked at Raven quickly. Then she turned back to the woman in throne and exclaimed, "you can't torture prisoners of war like that. It's against the Treaty deal."

"A Treaty deal none of my people agreed to in the first place," the girl reminded her. "We do not follow any of its rules in my land."

"Your land? What you pissed around it and made it yours?" Clarke hissed, and that caused a loud stir inside the tent. Several warriors drew their swords out and laid them on her throat, but the girl stopped them.

"I take no pleasure in torturing people," the girl said calmly, "but I will do it if I have to. To you, we are savages anyway, so why do I care?"

She paused briefly and stared at Clarke. "You, on the other hand, do have a choice here . You can either save your people from suffering or watch them suffer. Choose wisely."

"I am not betraying my planet," Clarke told her firmly.

The girl in the throne shook her head. "Take her," she ordered as she pointed at Raven.

Raven struggled, but with her hands tied up and no weapons, she was dragged out.

The 02s shoved Clarke and the others out too. Two men tied Raven to a post. They stepped back afterwards, waiting for their orders.

Clarke swallowed hard when she saw patches of dried blood on the post. The land under the post also seemed to have a much darker color like it had been soaked with blood.

The leader came out from the tent. She gave Clarke a glance, before she nodded at one of the men.

The guy nodded back, and pulled out his short sword. He raised it flat and slowly moved it towards Raven's throat. When the tip of the blade touched Raven's skin, he moved it all the way down to her stomach.

Raven gritted her teeth when the the tip of the blade cut into her flesh. She tried to stop that painful groan from escaping but she failed.

"Wait! Wait!" Clarke exclaimed in panic when she saw blood seeping through Raven's clothes. She turned to the girl in charge and yelled, "stop, please!"

"Clarke, don't," Raven bit her words out.

"No!" Clarke glared at Raven.

The leader raised her eyebrows at Clarke. "So, have you made up your mind yet?" She asked.

Clarke swallowed hard as she stared at the bleeding spot of Raven's. She could heard her heart slamming heavily against her chest right now. She knew the rules. She had read the manual. She remembered everything she had been taught in boot camp. She knew the shoulds and shouldn'ts. She knew everything. She knew all of it. However, she also knew that the last thing she wanted right now, would be seeing Raven or anyone's heavily mutilated body.

She had seen too many deaths. She couldn't afford to see another one, not when she have a choice to stop it.

The leader patiently waited for Clarke's answer. Clarke turned away while taking a deep breath. "We'll hear your offer first, but that doesn't mean we will agree," she murmured.

"You will agree," the woman told her with great confidence. "If you want to keep your people alive and in one piece."

"You are sick," Clarke told her angrily. "You are not supposed to torture your prisoners. It's...it's against the rules."

"You see, I'm not the one who's tied up, which means I get to make the rules," the girl told her.

Clarke shook her head, giving up on lecturing. "Release my friend first," she urged.

The girl leader nodded at her men, and they untied Raven and shoved her back to Clarke's side.

"Are you okay?" Clarke asked Raven in a low voice.

"I'm fine, and you shouldn't have agreed," Raven told her with a sigh.

Clarke stood between Raven and the 02s, before she asked the girl leader, "what do you want from us?"

"Your people captured some of my men. I want them back," the girl told her simply.

"And you think somehow we have them?" Clarke raised her eyebrows.

"I know you don't. They are kept in one of your war prisoner camps," the woman explained.

"So…?"

"What I need you to do is very simply. I need you to go in there and release them. Once they are back, I will free your people. We don't want anything else, just our people back."

Clarke frowned at her. "Umm...you do know that there's a thing called prisoner exchange, right?"

"Oh, I'm very familiar with that. Last time we agreed to trade prisoners with your people, we ended up walking into a trap and lost 18 of my men," the girl told her. "We no longer do prisoner exchange with your people."

"And what make you think I wouldn't run into the camp and tell my people about this? You know they'd dispatch a team here and kill every single one of you."

The leader smirked, amused. "You think they'd dispatch a team deep into the woods in the war zone, where my armies are garrisoned, to rescue 8 rookies?"

"They will, once they know that we are in danger," Clarke argued. "They will not leave us behind."

"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you," the girl leader told her. "If that's what you want to do, go head. Go tell them. Let them come, and see who ends up biting the dust."

She paused a short while as she pulled out her dagger and played with it. "And you know what's the first thing we are going to do when we see your people coming? I'm going to kill them one by one-" she pointed at Clarke's people. "I'll make sure you see everything."

Clarke shook her head. Raven rolled her eyes. Bellamy gave the leader a look of rage, while the others just swallowed nervously.

"Even if I agree, how do I know you won't kill us after your people are back?" Clarke asked.

"You don't," the girl told her.

"And yet you expect us to agree?"

"Well, again, I am not the one who's tied up with no weapons, am I?" The girl told her calmly.

Clarke struggled furiously against her restraints. She stopped when she almost broke her wrist. She growled in frustration and stared at the girl furiously. Then, she turned to look at her friends. When she saw how fear had practically taken over them, she closed her eyes in despair.

"Fine, I'll do it," she eventually agreed in a low voice.

"Clarke," Bellamy hissed at her. "Are you out of your mind? You can't agree to do that! You can't release prisoners without an authorization! Besides, you know she's just gonna kill us even if she gets her people back."

"Well, she's gonna kill us right now if I don't agree," Clarke told him. "I've seen too many deaths in the past few days. The last thing I want to see is you guys being cut into pieces in front of me."

"Clarke, don't do it. They are gonna kill us anyway. It might as well be now," Raven said. "They are not gonna let us go, and you know that."

"We'll see about that," Clarke told her.

"Fine, then let me ask you this," Raven continued, "how the hell are you gonna manage an unauthorized prisoner release?"

"Well, I figure I'd just...steal a few badges or access cards, and press a few buttons...crawl through a few ventilation tunnels if I have to...I don't know, but I'm sure I can figure something out-"

"Yeah, right," Raven drawled. "And how do you propose to even get to the war prisoner camp? You heard her. We are in the war zone now. There's a whole army of 02s out there, and then you have nutjobs like Pike. Chances are you are gonna get yourself killed long before you have a chance to release her people."

"Well, I'll figure something out," Clarke assured her. "I can take care of myself."

"Okay, let's say that you make your way over there safely, that you get into the camp," Monty reminded her, "you can still run into tons of troubles. The worst case scenario, they are gonna catch you, arrest you and eventually charge you with treason."

"No, they are not gonna charge me with treason. It's not like I sell the intel to the enemies or betray our own people…" Clarke said.

"Really, Clarke?" Raven raised her eyebrows. "You think what you are about to do is any better than that? Releasing prisoners of war without an authorization _is_ betraying our people! And you don't even know why her people were captured in the first place! What if they had done horrible things to our people? Releasing them is a serious crime! You can't risk a life sentence or maybe even a death penalty for a promise she's not even going to keep!"

"Well, at least I can say that I've tried," Clarke told her, and Raven gave her a big eyeroll.

Clarke cleared her throat and turned back to Monty. "By the way, that is not the worst case scenario. The worst would be that I watch them rip everything out of you and then use your skin to make a cape."

"Clarke, you are not being serious," Raven said while struggling against that rope that was holding her hands together. "You can not do this!"

"Oh yes, I am dead serious, because we don't have a second choice here," Clarke said.

"Clarke, they are not really giving you a choice anyway! We don't have a choice, because either way, she's going to kill us," Bellamy growled. "Even if you manage to get her people out safely, she's not gonna let us go."

"Yeah," Jasper agreed, shaking his head, "once her people's back, there's no reason for her to keep us alive. It's...pretty basic strategy. She uses us to make you cooperate, and once she's-"

"Look, I am not saying that she's going to keep her words for sure, or that I can definitely get her people out," Clarke told them, "but I don't want to watch any of you die today. As long as we are all alive, there is hope. Just...trust me on this, okay?"

The others all sighed and lowered their heads, and Clarke turned back to the leader. "I'll do it, under a few conditions."

The woman raised her eyebrows. "What makes you think you are in a position of negotiation here?"

"I need to know that you and your people are going to treat my friends with dignity while I'm gone," Clarke said. "We have two walkies, and I'm gonna take one with me and leave one with them. I will contact them at dawn and at nightfall. If any of them are hurt, or tortured, or dead, I guarantee you that you will never see those people or yours ever again."

"Alright," the girl nodded. "That's fine with me."

"And second, I am not leaving here alone," Clarke said. "I need one of you to go with me, because there are so many 02s out there. I can not die on the way to where your people are being held at."

The leader girl pondered. She eventually nodded, and said, "fair enough." She gestured at the tall guy. "Gustus."

The tall guy nodded and walked to Clarke's side.

"No, I don't want him," Clarke said. She turned away from the angry Gustus, and took a good look at all the warriors around her. "I don't want any of them either."

Turning back to the leader, she said firmly. "I want you. I want you to go with me."

Her words caused a loud stir among the 02s. Some of them seemed to feel a bit confused, while others were beyond angry as if she had just insulted their leader in the most unforgiving way.

Though, the leader seemed to be amused by her request. "You really want me?" She asked Clarke.

"What? You are too coward to go for a rescue mission, so you'd rather send one of your people to do it for you?" Clarke taunted.

She got a chuckle from the girl, even though the other 02s were pissed again. The leader walked to Clarke and stared at her right in the eyes. "You think that I am the youngest among all of us," she said as she reached her arm out and pointed at all the warriors around them, "therefore I must be the weakest, don't you? Well, let me tell you something. My strength is not defined by my age or my look. If you think you can take me down once we are alone in the wild, think again."

"No, that's not what I am implying," Clarke stared back at her, "because calling someone at my age weak is the same as calling myself weak, and why do I want to do that? I just think that you'd make the rescue mission easier because a lot of people seems to follow your orders."

"I must warn you, not everyone out there follows my orders," the girl told her honestly.

"Well, that's another thing. If we are in grave danger, I'm sure your loyal followers will come and help because I don't suppose they want to see their leader die. I'm not so sure they'd bother if you send anyone else with me. So, are you coming or not?"

The leader pondered for a while, before she gave Clarke a firm nod. "Fine, I'll come with you."

Her answer seemed to have shocked her people too much and they went dead quiet for a while. Then, the woman Clarke had met in the dungeon argued with her leader in a low voice. She tried to make her change her mind, but the girl silenced her by raising her hand at her.

"I have made my decision, Indra," the leader said simply as she looked at her, then at every one of her people. Then she lowered her voice and whispered to Indra in Trigedasleng, "if I don't come back, you know what to do."

"Heda," Indra bit that word out. "No, I say we stick to our original plan. We go in and get them back ourselves."

The leader let out a deep breath. "No, we can't risk her. They don't know who she is yet," she whispered in a voice so low that only Indra could hear. "You've seen that place. We need an army to get in, but if we make it a big deal, they will become suspicious. We need to keep it as quiet as possible."

"Heda..." Indra pleaded. After glancing at Clarke, she continued, "she's just a dumb 03 girl. She's probably going to run away the moment she gets outta here."

The leader glanced at Clarke too, and let out a subtle smile. "We'll see about that," she told Indra.

"This plan is too risky," Gustus joined the conversation. "It relies solely on that girl. She's too weak, and she can not be trusted."

"I am not trusting her," the leader replied, "but I do believe that she doesn't want her people to die."

"It's all an act. She's just trying to save her own ass just like the others," Indra argued. "Even if she isn't, she can't possibly complete the mission. Look at her, she's a rookie and she's scared as hell."

"Well, sometimes fear makes us invincible," the leader said calmly. "We don't have much time. She's our best choice right now."

Clarke frowned at those three and leaned in to Monty and whispered, "what are they talking about?"

"Umm...they told her not to do it, but she insisted. Indra told her that they should stick to their original plan or whatever, then...I couldn't hear anything anymore," Monty told her honestly.

Clarke nodded and watched them closely. Her patience eventually ran out, and she asked, "are we going or not?"

The leader gave her a slight nod and sheathed her dagger. She took one sword from her people and carried it on her back. She also took a crossbow and a quiver or arrows from another person and equipped them too. Then, she came to Clarke's side and said, "remember, no tricks, or your people dies."

"Oh, I think I get that message clear enough already," Clarke told her. "I need my gun back, and my walkies too, please. And don't worry, I won't shoot you unless your people hurt my friends. ."

"Give her her weapons back," Heda told Gustus, and the guy reluctantly fetched Clarke her things. He looked at her combat knife with a frown like he wondered how she could have picked a weapon so small. Then, he freed Clarke by cutting her ropes with that knife, before he handed it back to her.

He examined her gun next, and ejected the magazine. He handed the magazine to his leader, before he handed the empty gun to Clarke.

Clarke rolled her eyes and tucked the gun in her waist belt. The leader shook her head at Gustus and told him. "There's no need to do that, Gustus. I can take her down even if she has a gun."

"Oh really?" Clarke snorted loudly and pulled her gun out.

The girl looked at her with her head tilted to the side and a smirk on her face. "Try shoot me," she taunted as he handed the magazine back to Clarke.

Clarke loaded her gun. She cleared her throat and raised her gun hesitantly. Before she had even made up her mind of where to aim at, the woman flung her arm at her and hit her wrist with the side of her hand. She knocked Clarke's gun out, before she grabbed Clarke's collar and threw her down to the ground. She straddled Clarke with a dagger pressed against Clarke's throat.

"See?" She said to Clarke.

Clarke let out a sigh. She pushed the woman off her and got up. She picked up her gun and tucked it back in her belt. Wiping the dirt of her face with her sleeve, she asked, "fine, I see your point. Can I at least say goodbye to my friends?"

The girl shrugged and moved out of her way. Clarke rushed to give Raven a hug first. "Don't worry, okay? I'll be fine. I'll figure out a way to get you guys out safely."

Raven sighed. "Don't trust her," she whispered to Clarke in a barely audible voice. "Don't let her know that your mother is a council member, okay? You don't know what these people could do to you if they-I mean, shit, just run when you have the chance, Clarke, just run."

"Don't worry about me. Make sure you rest a lot and give your leg some time to actually heal itself, okay?"

"Yes, _mom_ ," Raven grunted.

Clarke nodded at Bellamy afterwards. Bellamy gave her a look and told her to come close. They hugged each other, and Bellamy told her in a whisper, "whenever you have the chance, just kill her and run. We will figure out a way to escape."

"Don't worry. When I get to the war prisoner camp, I will send help," Clarke told him.

Bellamy sighed hesitantly. He eventually nodded at Clarke instead of saying anything to her.

Clarke hugged the others, and they all wished her good luck and told her to stay safe.

Walking back to the 02 leader, Clarke said, "so what's our plan?"

"It's simple," the girl told her. "When we get to the camp, you'll go in and find a way to release my people. Once they are out safely, your people will be released too."

"Do you even have a plan for how I could release your people from a prison without getting caught?" Clarke asked. "I mean-"

"That is not my problem," the girl said coldly. "Remember, if you can't get them out, your people dies."

Clarke rolled her eyes. She took one last glance at Raven and the others, before she asked the leader, "can I at least have your name?"

"I believe that it's only polite when you offer your name first," the girl said. She glanced at the name tag on Clarke's uniform. "Or should I just call you by your last name, _Griffin_?"

"I'm Clarke," Clarke introduced herself. "You?"

"Lexa," the other woman let that name fall out from her lips indifferently. She took a few steps towards the exit of the camp, before she turned to Clarke and warned, "if you think you can take me as your hostage once we step out, don't. You don't want to face the consequences."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I do this, my people dies. I do that, my people dies," Clarke drawled. "Let's go, shall we?"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

On her way to the Council chamber, Abby got a call from Marcus. She entered an empty office right beside her and locked the door before she picked up the call.

"Marcus, have you found Clarke?" She asked anxiously.

"No, well..." Marcus hesitantly replied. "I've found someone who had survived the crash. This kid says that she made out safely with a group of others-"

"Oh thank God!" Abby exclaimed as she let out a deep breath. "Where is she? Is she okay? Can you put her on the phone?"

"No, I'm afraid not. She's not here," Marcus said. "This kid, Alex, told me that Clarke and a few others left the group."

"What?! What do you mean by she left the group?" Abby asked, confused.

"I'm not sure."

"Let me talk to this Alex," Abby demanded.

"I'm afraid that you can't, Abby," Marcus told her. "We found him and a few others during a raid. They were all severely injured. He passed out right after he told me about Clarke, and I don't know if any of them could make it..."

"Why would she leave the group? Was it because they encountered the enemy?"

"No, she and a few others had a fall out with the group, and they just left. They didn't come to any of our bases. They made no contact with us. I don't know what happened, Abby, but my guess is that she and her friends might have decided to abandon their duty and run away."

"What?! That's impossible!" Abby exclaimed. "Clarke would never do that. She joined the army willingly. Why would she abandon her duty?"

"I don't know, Abby, but war changes people sometimes. She's young. She's naive. She might have had a few ideas about the war and then when she sees the real thing, she couldn't handle it, so she decided to run away maybe? I mean, she's not the first one who has done that in this war."

"I know my daughter, Marcus. She would never do that. Something must have gone wrong."

"Abby, at this point I'd say that anything is possible, but if she did become an AWOL, you need to be prepare for what's coming next for her."

"AWOL or not, where the hell is she, Marcus?"

"I don't know," Marcus replied.

"Please tell me that you have a search team, and that you are looking for her right now."

Marcus stayed quiet for a long time, before he said, "we don't have a team looking for her, and we won't. I'm sorry, Abby."

"Marcus..."

"Look, Abby, I know this must be very hard for you, and believe me, if I had a choice, I would be searching for her myself, but I have my orders. I can't send my men out there looking for some rookie AWOLs-"

"You don't know that! You don't even know if that's true! She could be captured. She could be in danger," Abby said. "You could save her, Marcus."

"On what cost, Abby?" Marcus asked. "I can't send out a hundred men out into the woods, where the 02s were at, looking for your daughter. I don't know her location, or whether she is still alive-"

"How can you not know her location, Marcus? Don't they all have identity chips in their arms? Don't those chips transmitting their locations to the command center?"

"They do, but we are experiencing an unusual geomagnetic storm here. We have a lot of trouble communicating with the command center already. Our communication system is not registering any of the signals coming from their chips right now. That was why it took us so long to figure out that their ship has crashed."

He paused for a while, before he softened his tone and said, "look, Abby, if the communication system is back on, I'll check for her location myself and send someone for her, but right now, she's on her own. I'm sure she's fine. The crash wasn't in the war zone and-"

"Oh this is not happening!" Abby growled as she slammed her fist against the wall. "I can not believe this is happening when-"

She stopped talking, but Marcus noticed something wrong. "What's the matter?" He asked. "Is it Jaha?"

"No, it's not him," Abby said. "I mean, he's fine. He should be out of the hospital in a few days."

"Is it one of the injured Council members then?"

"No, well, Sinclair is still in bad shape. Callie is doing fine, though," Abby explained.

"The what is it?"

"Nothing," Abby immediately said. Then she let out a deep sigh. She wasn't sure if telling Marcus about her problem was a good idea, but for days she had been dying to talk to someone about this matter. With Jaha and the other two allies of hers in hospital, and Clarke gone, she never felt so isolated and helpless.

"Abby?" Marcus called.

"It's…I think Sydney is making sure that she'll have enough votes to get rid of me soon," Abby said.

"You mean she's trying to kick you out of the Council?"

"Yep," Abby said."You should see her face every time I voted against her, Marcus. She looked like she wanted to tear me into pieces, but yesterday...she just had this condescending smile. I'm pretty sure she has already had a plan."

"Even if she wants to, she won't get enough votes," Marcus told her.

Abby sighed again. "Just...please do something, Marcus. Please find my daughter. She's all I have left."

"I'll try," Marcus told her. "I just...I can't make any promises."

"Well, you-"

The door opened abruptly, and it interrupted Abby. The secretary of the council stood in the hallway. He gave Abby a polite smile. "Ah, Dr. Griffin, there you are. The council meeting will be starting shortly."

* * *

Clarke and Lexa passed by a village in the forest on their way to the war prisoner camp. When Clarke saw that everything inside the village had been destroyed, she stopped.

All she saw were deaths. There were over forty dead bodies inside. One of the huts had been burnt, and so had some bodies near it. Small clusters of flames remained around the hut, and the smell of burnt flesh lingered in the air. It made Clarke feel sick.

She covered her nose with her sleeve and closed her eyes, but when she heard a vague mumble calling for help, she rushed in.

She found a female 03 soldier lying behind a collapsed hut. She had several stab wounds on her chest and her lower abdomen, as well as a broken leg caused by the falling roof of the hut. She was practically drenched in her own blood.

Clarke had no idea when she had been injured, or how long she had been lying there like this. She was beyond surprised that this women was still alive.

The woman turned her eyes at Clarke and mouthed "help" at her. That word struggled out from her throat through bubbles of blood. She tried to reach for the corner of Clarke's sleeve, but all she could do was dragging her nails through the dirt beside her.

Another "help" left her throat, and she started to inhale hard. She sounded like her lungs had turned into two broken containers and every time the air went in, it leaked out through the holes and causes this loud, dying noise.

Clarke placed a hand on that woman's face. She looked into her eyes as she bit her tears back. "You are gonna be okay," she told the woman in a whisper as she pulled her gun out and put it against her forehead.

"Everything's gonna be okay," she murmured, before she pulled the trigger.

That loud gunshot seemed to have taken all her hope away. She kneeled there as she looked at every dead body around her. There were 02 warriors. There were 03 soldiers. There were 02 civilians. There was nothing but flames, blood and death.

She numbly stared at the dead soldier's face. That peaceful, relaxed look squeezed her heart hard. Her tears flooded out, as if she had just been poked in the eyes and punched in the nose.

Slowly, she closed the woman's eyes for her.

"She's gone, Clarke," Lexa told her calmly as she laid a hand on Clarke's shoulder.

Clarke flung her hand away and wiped her face with her sleeve. She stood up and stormed out of the village.

She treaded through the tall grass angrily while wiping her tears off with her sleeve. The hooks on the burs dug into her pants and scratched her legs. The thorns on the bushes pierced through her clothes and left long, painful drag marks on her elbows and arms, but she couldn't care less.

Eventually, she tripped over a fallen log that was hidden under the grass. She groaned and slammed her foot at it furiously.

She sat there and panted while staring at Lexa, who seemed to be following her by keeping a close distance behind her. She couldn't read Lexa's thoughts, because that woman was just too damn calm. She thought she had seen a flicker or two in those green blue eyes, but she just didn't know what it meant, and that made her furious.

"Why the hell can't people just settle things in a more civilized manner?" She eventually yelled, because the rage inside her had to find an exit.

Lexa clenched her lips a little and watched her closely. "You wouldn't have joined the army if you had believed things can be resolved in a civilized manner."

Clarke snorted. She grabbed a handful of seedheads beside her and pulled at them . She tossed them away after she had squeezed the juice out from them. "I joined the army because your people can't stop attacking my people. "

"My people wouldn't be attacking your people, if _your people_ can stay on your own planet instead of shitting on mine," Lexa replied. There was a bit of anger hidden under her calm tone.

"You and I both know that there wouldn't be a war if your people didn't keep sabotaging our mining machines and bombing our mines and quarries," Clarke pointed out.

"Then why did your people keep bringing those machines over?"

"They brought them over because they had the right to do so!" Clarke growled. "They won the bid of the mines and the quarries here. They have the right to do business here."

"A right never being granted by my people," Lexa said.

"Just because you don't agree with the Treaty doesn't mean it's not there or it's not real," Clarke told her. "Your president signed the damn paper, and it's the law. My people followed the law while yours broke it."

"The laws you were talking about were signed by the president who wasn't elected by us," Lexa told her. "We never voted for him."

"Well I don't see why that would be my people's problem. You don't vote, you don't get what you want. That's democracy."

"We never asked for that kind of democracy," Lexa scoffed.

"Whether you asked for it or not, you can't just run around and set anything you don't like on fire or kill anyone you don't like."

"Actually, I'm pretty sure that's the definition of savages," Lexa told her, and Clarke rolled her eyes.

"Gee, I know you people were savages. I didn't know you were assholes too," Clarke said.

Instead of escalating the argue, Lexa kept quiet while looking at Clarke in the eyes. "Tell me, Clarke, if someone breaks into your house, what would you do?"

"I would call the police," Clarke replied.

"Would you still settle it by _calling the police_ , if this person kills your family and they comes at you with knife drenched in their blood?"

Clarke let out a frustrated sigh. "The mining companies, they never did anything like that to your people. They came here for business. They created jobs and even built schools and shelters for God's sake."

"You have no idea what they have done to us," Lexa told her. There was nothing but hatred in her voice now.

Clarke also sensed a subtle tremor in her voice. It sounded like a solemn sorrow, an emotion that would only occur to someone who had deeply cared for someone else, but how was it possible? How was it possible that someone as cold and cruel as Lexa could feel something like that?

Clarke should her head. "I think it's safe to say that we are not going anywhere with our conversation, so maybe we should just keep our mouths shut, period," she announced.

She resumed the journey as she walked through the tall grass in anger despite Lexa telling her not to go that way. As she came through a patch of shrubs, she ran into three 03 scouts.

Startled, Clarke looked at them, and then she looked at their raised guns. "Whoa, whoa, easy, guys," she said as she raised her hands. "We are-"

She stopped abruptly when she saw another guy coming behind them. She knew him. He was one of Pike's men, Lanston.

Clarke's eyes shot wide open when she saw that thrilled bloodthirsty look on his face. She spun around and saw Lexa a few feet behind her with a crossbow loaded and ready to fire. "Run!" She yelled as she dashed to her.

The brunette rolled to the side just in time to dodge the bullets. She shot one of the guys in the knee. He fell back in pain and the other two scouts immediately went to check on him.

Lanston spat and kept firing his gun at Clarke and Lexa. "Leave him be and follow me, you morons," he yelled at the two uninjured scouts.

The short delay gave Clarke and Lexa some head start. Lexa sprinted through the woods while occasionally shooting an arrow or two at Lanston and the other two pursuers.

They fired back at them in furious yells and grunts. Bullets flew over their heads. A few of them grazed Clarke's arms, as well as Lexa's cheek.

"This way," Lexa told Clarke as she took a sharp turn and entered a patch of thick bushes and tall grass.

Spooked, a herd of grass chewing animals scattered and ran, making a lot of noises in the area. Lexa lifted the cover of a hunting trap and dragged Clarke inside. Clarke closed her eyes and turned away when she saw a dead animal right beside them. The foul smell of the partially rotten body, the feces and some old animal remains down there made her want to puke.

A second or two later, Clarke heard Lanston and the other two guys outside looking for them.

"I don't see them," one of the scouts said. He sounded really close. Clarke thought he'd be right next to the trap they were in, but she couldn't see him.

She heard some fussing, treading feet and spitting. She heard them poking around in the tall grass and the bushes. Then she heard Lanston say, "those bitches were gone. Let's go back to our camp."

The other two scouts agreed, and Clarke heard them leaving. She let out a breath of relief and stood up.

She reached for the cover, but Lexa clutched her arms and dragged her back down. She covered Clarke's mouth firmly right before that angry fuss left Clarke's mouth.

Confused, Clarke froze there while inhaling the hot, putrid air through her nose.

Several seconds later, out of nowhere, Lanston's voice came to her again. It sounded like he was right above them.

"Looks like those two bitches got away," he said. "Fuck."

He spat again, and mumbled, "I knew that blondie is a fucking traitor. Better not let me see her again or I will..."

After the sound of him smacking the scouts' head and yelling "you let them get away, you fucking morons", they all left.

Lexa eventually let go of her, and Clarke let out a sigh of relief.

"How do you know?" She asked in a whisper as she looked at Lexa.

"How do I know what?" Lexa put her crossbow on her back.

"How do you know that they pretended to leave to trick us?"

"Simple, they were stomping their feet while making it sound lighter and lighter instead of moving away, which means they didn't really leave."

"You can't possibly know that," Clarke snorted. "I mean...how can you even tell?"

"It's part of my battle training," Lexa told her honestly. "Didn't your trainer teach you the same things, or you are just a lousy soldier, Clarke?"

Clarke rolled her eyes and climbed out of the trap without making a comment.

Lexa came up after her. She looked around and examined the traces that Lanston and his guys had left behind, before she commented, "we need to go this way-" she pointed to their left, "-since your people are heading that way-" she pointed to their right.

Clarke shook her head. "They are not my people."

"But you do wear the same uniform," Lexa pointed out the obvious.

"They are not my people," Clarke repeated in a hiss.

Lexa shrugged before she led the way.

* * *

When Abby entered the Council chamber, she first looked at every member who was already in there. The two swing voters, Ngen and Kaplan, dodged her eyes uncomfortably. The one who often would favor Sydney but would also occasionally vote against her, Fuji, looked at Abby before he turned away from her. The rest of the Council, Sydney, Muir and Cole, held Abby's gaze. There was a taunting smile on Sydney's face too.

Abby sighed and sat down. She knew that moment she had been waited for had finally come. Sydney must have had the members aligned and she was about to initiate a voting process to remove her from the Council.

"Dr. Griffin is finally here," Sydney announced as she rested her chin on the back of her hands. "Let's start our meeting, shall we?"

The other members agreed in a low voice. Sydney lowered her head as if she was feeling sad. "I really wish we didn't have to start this meeting today, but I'm afraid that...one of us is no longer able to do her job as a Council member."

"I think you can safely spit out my name, Sydney," Abby said bluntly.

"Dr. Griffin, please, this is nothing personal," Sydney told her. "This is not about you, or me, or anyone else. This is about our planet. This is about our people. I know you mean well when you are defending the 02s, but our people, the 03 people, comes first in this Council."

After a brief pause, she announced, "I propose to remove Abigail Griffin from the council."

Abby shook her head and sneered. From the looks on the other members' faces, and the fact that none acted surprised, Abby knew there was no hope for her.

"Dr. Griffin," Sydney looked at Abby. "I'd leave the chamber if I were you. I mean, I don't want you to hold any grudge against anyone who vote against you."

"I'd rather stay and watch," Abby told her firmly.

Sydney shrugged. "Well, those who are in favor," she raised her hand.

Two members immediately raised their hands. The third one raised his but when he saw the two undecided, he immediately put it down. The three of them looked at each other nervously.

Eventually, they were about to raise theirs, but the communication device on the table suddenly ran.

"It's the Chancellor," the secretary announced, before he allowed the call to come through.

Chancellor Jaha appeared in front of everyone as a hologram. He was still in hospital bed with medical machines hooked up to him. He scooted into a sitting position and looked at Sydney.

"Diana," he called in a weak voice. "Are you out of your mind? You started an impeachment voting without having me or the two injured Council members there?"

"Well, Chancellor, you are still in recovery, and so are them. I feel that we can handle this on our own."

"This is absurd. It's against the protocol," Jaha hissed.

"I believe the protocol states clearly that when certain members of the Council are missing due to medical reasons, the rest of the Council can carry out an impeachment voting procedure," Sydney said.

"You can not initiate an impeachment voting just because you and Dr. Griffin can't find a common ground on some of the issues."

"Thelonious, the voting process has already started," Sydney reminded him. "Unless it's a tie, a Chancellor can't intervene."

"I am fully aware of that, Diana," Jana said while shaking his head, "but since I can't bring the two injured Council members to your meeting, I figure I can bring this meeting to them."

He handed the communication device to someone else, and after a short scrambled display, the hologram switched to the two members who were in hospital. Callie, who sat in bed, gave Abby a nod. Sinclair, who barely opened his eyes while lying in a medical pod, turned his eyes at Abby and blinked.

Surprised, the members in the chamber burst into another whispering discussion, before Sydney called for a vote.

"Those who are in favor of removing Abigail Griffin from the Council," she said, her right hand still raised.

Callie and Sinclair didn't do anything. Ngen and Kaplan kept their arms under the table too. Fuji seemed to have a hard time deciding, but he eventually chose to raise his hand.

Sydney gnashed her teeth as she stared at them furiously. "Those who are in favor?" She called again with a much louder voice.

"I believe they all heard you, Sydney," Abby told her.

Sydney let out an angry growl as she slammed her hand into the table. The secretary called, "those who are opposed?"

Callie raised her hand and said "Nay". Sinclair struggled to raise his. "Nay" slipped out from his lips before his arm lolled. He went into a seizure and was immediately removed from the call. Callie gave Abby another nod, before her hologram disappeared.

Jaha appeared again, and he stared at Ngen and Kaplan. Both of them eventually raised their hands while looking down at the floor. They whispered a "nay" in a very low voice.

The secretary called, "it's a tie. I believe that it's the Chancellor's decision now."

Jaha stared at Sydney, and then Abby, before he announced,"I think Dr. Abigail Griffin should remain in the Council."

Shortly after that, the call ended. Sydney stared at Abby viciously, and Abby gave her a scoff in return. The other members left the chamber in absolute silence, and Abby left too.

After everyone was gone, Sydney locked the door and practically yelled at her communication device, asking for a secured call.

The gray haired man's hologram she had talked to before appeared. He looked at her calmly as he sipped his tea from the teacup in his hand. "What's the matter?"

"You said Jaha and the other two Council members wouldn't be a problem!" Sydney hissed.

"I did, when they were still in critical condition and couldn't vote. You've waited for too long."

"I had to get everyone else to vote in my favor before this damn meeting, and BAM Jaha called and everything is ruined!"

"Have a little patience," the man told her.

"It's easy for you to say. When the two pawns of hers are back from the hospital, they'd take every chance and vote against me just because," Sydney said. "If I can't kick her out at the end of this week, our plan won't be going anywhere."

The man nodded slightly and sipped more tea from the cup. "I'll take care of Thelonious Jaha," he said before ended the call.

* * *

Falling far behind Lexa, Clarke had to take a rest. She gasped hard as she pressed one hand against a tree and the other on her lower abdomen.

The cramp inside was killing her, and no matter how hard she inhaled she never got enough air. She could hear that dying sound being squeezed out from her throat every time she panted.

Lexa stopped and turned back to look at her. There was only a nonchalant look on her face, and there seemed to be a hint of amusement in her eyes. Clarke wondered how it was possible for her not to break a sweat while travelling so fast in such a humid weather.

Raising her index finger, Clarke told Lexa that she needed a one minute break. She turned her torso and inhaled hard, before she threw her ass down and sat beside a tree.

"How far exactly are we?" She asked breathlessly.

"Two more days," Lexa answered simply. She walked to a tree that was a few feet away from Clarke. She picked up some herbs and put them into her herb sack.

"You said two more days this morning!" Clarke complained. "And we have been walking for an entire day!"

"No, we have been walking for the morning and the early afternoon," Lexa told her. "And we were walking very slowly, which means this would take more time than I expected."

Clarke rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Also," Lexa continued in a bland tone, "if you keep taking one minute breaks, it would take us even longer."

Clarke shook her head and took out her water bottle. She downed every drop, before she wiped her mouth. "Fine, let's just keep walking then."

"Are you sure?" Lexa asked.

"Oh yeah, I'm abso-fucking-lutely sure," Clarke grunted as she got up. "Better die walking than listening to you bitching."

"If you spend more time on travelling than coming up with witty retorts, we'd be there sooner," Lexa told her as she led the way.

"You are bitching again," Clarke drawled, and the brunette just turned away from her in silence.

When the sun started to slip towards the horizon, they decided to rest and have some food. Lexa told Clarke that she'd go hunt, and Clarke decided that she'd gather some fruits.

She found a fruit tree a few feet away from her. She raised herself on her toes as she reached for the hanging branch above her head. After failing a few times, she had finally managed to grab it.

She pulled it down and examined the fruits on it. After frowning at all those dry, wrinkly ones, she picked two fruits that looked juicy and ripe.

She carelessly cleaned the orange skin with her sleeve before she took a bite. A bitter, tart state exploded in her mouth, and she squinted her eyes shut tight. It tasted worse than eating an unripe lemon.

She tossed them away and found another fruit tree, but they all tasted the same. A few bites of the bitter flesh made her stomach protest with growls.

She spat repeatedly and threw those horrible fruits away. The taste still lingered on her tongue, and her stomach kept growling.

She turned around when she heard a gentle cough behind her. It actually sounded more like an amused chuckle. There, she saw Lexa watching her. One corner of the brunette's lips was slightly raised, and it almost looked like a smile.

"What?" Clarke hissed impatiently.

"You want the ugly ones," Lexa told her.

"Huh?" Clarke frowned.

"The fruits," Lexa raised her hand and pointed at the fruit tree beside Clarke. "You want the ugly ones."

"Why would I want them?" Clarke asked, confused. She turned to look at those ugly fruits hanging on the trees. They all had a dirty brown color and dry, bumpy skin. The bulging scars on their skins looked like there were parasites living underneath.

Lexa licked her lips before she bit her bottom lip. It looked actually like she was trying her best to hold a smile in. "Because they taste better?" She suggested.

Clarke raised her eyebrows and stared at her. After making sure that Lexa wasn't making fun of her, she reached for the lowest branch and picked a fruit that was less uglier than the others.

She grimaced at it, before she hesitantly took a bite.

One bite, she felt like she had just had a chunk of honeycomb. The zesty, sweet juice flew into her mouth and danced on her tongue. There was a strong kick in it, and it lit up all her tastebuds.

_Huh._ She chewed the sweet flesh while frowning at the fruit in her hand. She was beyond surprised that the dirty brown thing tasted better than any fruits she had ever had.

She inhaled it. When she threw the pit away, she finally remembered that someone was watching her. Wiping her fingers on her pants, she cleared her throat and asked Lexa, "you want one?"

"I don't mind having one," Lexa said simply as she sat down.

It was then that Clarke noticed that Lexa had a small dead animal hanging on her belt. It was fluffy and chubby, and it had a long, flat end tail. It looked like a hybrid of rabbit and rat to Clarke.

Lexa started a small cooking fire. She took the dead animal off her belt and skinned it adeptly with her dagger. She gutted it and kept the heart, the liver and a couple of other organ pieces, before she threw away the rest.

She opened her herb sack and took out several herbs: a few cloves of a yellow blob that Clarke had never seen before, a small bunch of wild chives, a handful of deep red mountain basil leaves, several pieces of black star nutmeg, and a bunch of long, dark purple fruits that looked like peppers but Clarke had never seen them in such a curly spiral shape.

Clarke watched her crushing the herbs with the butt of her dagger, stuffing them into the animal and wrapping the whole thing inside a big leaf.

After carefully shoving it under the burning firewood pile, Lexa went away briefly to wash her hands. When she came back, she sat down quietly and ate the fruit Clarke had given her.

They waited for the food to be ready, and there was a moment of silence, a moment of peace that embraced them.

Clarke stared at the twin moon that were peeking out from behind the horizon, where the setting sun was slowly dipping down. The sky was a blend of purples, pinks, blues and oranges. It looked so breathtaking that it made all the deaths and tears feel like a nightmare.

She looked at the fire while listening to the soft crackles for a while, before she turned to Lexa.

The brunette was sharpening her weapons right now. She had her head lowered and her lips clenched. She seemed to be too concentrated on what she was doing to notice Clarke's stare.

Clarke could see the reflection of the flames in her light eyes. They made them look warmer.

Her green blue eyes. They glowed softly, almost too softly for someone who would not hesitate to kill. The falling night revealed that hidden sparkle in those eyes. Clarke had seen them a few times, but she couldn't figure out what it was.

When Lexa suddenly raised her head and turned to her, Clarke quickly looked away pretending she was staring at the twin moons that were now hanging at the edge of the sky.

"How long until the-" she asked as she pointed at the food.

"Soon," Lexa told her.

Clarke nodded. She stretched her legs and let out a deep breath. She ended up checking her inventories as the silence devoured them again.

After a while, the food was finally ready. When Lexa cut the wrap open with the tip of her dagger, a strong, savory smell burst out.

Clarke inhaled it. Her stomach immediately started to growl in excitement. The sizzling grease that coated the slightly browned meat made Clarke's mouth watery. She swallowed hard and told herself that the last thing she wanted to do in front of Lexa was to drool.

Lexa wasn't paying attention to her, though. She was focusing on cutting the cooked animal into four pieces. She handed Clarke a quarter, and Clarke thanked her before inhaling it.

She had some water afterwards, and more meat while watching Lexa stabbing the tip of her dagger into the cooked liver and heart to bring them to her mouth and eat them.

"Do you...ummm do you always eat those?" She couldn't help but ask curiously, for those were the parts she had never had enough courage to try.

Lexa shrugged while chewing. "When we kill an animal, we make sure we don't waste it. Taking a life is a serious thing to us, and we make sure it counts."

Clarke nodded. She wanted to ask about all the lives that Lexa and her people had taken during the war, but she didn't want to start another intense argument. "Then what about the things that you threw away?" She eventually murmured as she pointed at the location where Lexa had thrown away the animal skin and other wastes.

Lexa put down her dagger. "There's a mud badger nesting over there," she pointed at a patch of thick grass behind Clarke. "She could probably use some food since she has a newborn cub."

Clarke looked behind her but she didn't see anything in the grass. "How do you know-"

Lexa stopped her from talking by shushing her in haste. She put out the fire by stomping on it. She kicked away the burnt branches and turned her face sideways to listen.

After a second or two, she quickly tossed the rest of the food away, covered the place with foliage and pulled Clarke with her.

"Whoa, what's going on?" Clarke pulled her gun out immediately, but Lexa pressed her hand on her wrist telling her to lower it.

"An army is coming," Lexa told her in a whisper as she headed to a tree. She climbed up first, before she offered a hand to Clarke.

Clarke climbed up too, and hid herself behind the lush leaves. She tried to see what Lexa had seen, but she couldn't see much in the dusk. The only things she could see were the silhouettes of the forest, the contours of the mountains, and some bright spots far, far away in the woods.

It took her quite some time to eventually realize that those were the burning flames of torches. As they got closer, she saw six animal mounts with 02 riders and six 02 infantries marching noisily behind them.

Clarke frowned when she heard the sound of Lexa gnashing her teeth in anger. "Why are you hiding from your people?" She asked in a whisper.

"They are not my people," Lexa told her in a low growl, practically forcing those words through her clenched teeth.

Clarke was a little surprised that Lexa was angry enough to tremble. She thought she should do something about it, but anything between hugging, holding hands or even a pat on the shoulder would seem too weird.

She ended up lightly nudged the brunette with the butt of her gun. Then, her saw something among the army.

Four of the horses were dragging along something that looked like a huge plow. The long, structured bars and brackets had ropes tied to them. On the other end of the ropes, there were a dozen or so captives tied up there. They were being dragged over the ground by the mounts with their arms tied behind their backs and their ankles tied up together to the device. As the riders moved forward, long, bloody trails were left behind.

Clarke let out a furious hiss and squeezed the grip of her gun when she noticed that some of the captives were wearing 03 army uniforms. Lexa grabbed her arm to stop her from jumping down and storming to the army.

"Let go," Clarke hissed at her.

"You can't save them, Clarke," Lexa reminded her.

"Well at least I should try."

"And then what? Getting yourself killed or captured and tortured like that?" Lexa persuaded. "You shouldn't start a fight you can't win."

Clarke clenched her teeth. She clenched them so hard that she could hear the sound of them grinding together. Short, angry bursts of air squeezed out from her nose as she slammed her fist into the tree trunk.

One of the horsemen raised his head and glanced at the tree they were hiding in. After having seen nothing out of the ordinary, he rode on.

Clarke watched the army slowly moving forward. One of the captives hit a bump and that seemed to have awakened him. He let out a vague groan and a slur calling for help.

Clarke closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Cover your eyes and your ears," she told Lexa, before she pulled out the safety pin from a stun grenade and hurled it at the army down below.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: several people have reminded me that Lexa has green or green blue eyes instead of blue. I'll stick to green blue from now on :)


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Being temporarily stunned by the bright flash and the loud bang, the animal mounts panicked. They roared and bucked, throwing the riders off their backs. Then, they fled into the woods noisily.

The 02 warriors stumbled around in the dusk, knocking into each other while cursing loudly. They pulled their weapons out while shaking their heads and rubbing their eyes in loud growls. Some of them fell down clumsily in struggles while trying to pull their weapons.

Clarke dashed towards them while firing her gun at them. The warriors fussed furiously as they fought back clumsily. One of the warriors knocked her down with a heavy blow on her nose, before he straddled her.

Clarke struggled while squinting hard at those stars floating in her vision. Blood gushed out in her nose, clogging up her throat, making her feel like she was drinking liquid rust. She tried to shoot him but he knocked her gun away.

Under the light of the torches and twin moons, she finally had a good look at the attacker. He gave her a wide, wicked grin. His teeth were filed into sharp, pointy shape and he was wearing a raw animal hide. The hide was smudged by blood. In the contrast between the shadows of the night and the light from the moon, he looked more like a beast than a human being.

She could smell him. It was a mixed odor of blood, dirt, and filth. It upset her stomach, and she almost puked.

She struggled against him frantically, kicking and punching, but she couldn't break free. She pulled out her combat knife and thrust it at him. He chuckled and grabbed her wrist. He tightened his fingers around it and squeezed it until Clarke cried out in pain and dropped the knife.

He stuck his tongue out slowly and licked his lips. The long scar on his left cheek crooked as if it was about to burst open.

"Dison laik ain (this one's mine)," he told the others as he tapped the tip of his blade on Clarke's nose.

The others chuckled along with him, after they had made sure that there was no backup forces coming for Clarke. They all came to her side and grinned at her.

After she had successfully thrown a punch into his arm, the other warriors all laughed. One of them came closer and pinned her arms down to the ground, and another held her legs down.

The one who straddled her grinned at her growled and spat into his face, before she launched her head at him. She hit his nose with her forehead, and he cursed in rage.

He pulled out a short dagger, before he turned to his people and said something in Trigedasleng. They all giggled while he chuckled, their voices thick of bloodthirst.

Suddenly, his chuckles stopped. He paused there and slowly lowered his head. He looked down at his chest, where an arrowhead had just pierced out.

He raised his eyebrows and stared at his dribbling blood, unable to believe what had just happened. He inhaled hard for a few times, before he mumbled and fell down.

The others stopped laughing when they realized that he was dead for real. They raised their weapons in murmurs and looked around, searching for the shooter.

Clarke took the chance to pulled her legs free. She threw her heels into the face of the man who had been holding her legs and kicked him away. The one who held her arms tried to keep her still and she fought against him. Suddenly, he loosened his grip and died from an arrow in his throat.

Glancing at where the arrows were coming from, Clarke's heart suddenly fluttered heavily as if it was about to give out. The sound of it slammed against her eardrums, masking every other sound around her.

While the 02 warriors were too busy deciding whether they should go after the shooter first, Clarke picked up her gun and ran to hide behind a row of bushes.

She loaded her gun and killed two of them while Lexa took down three.

The rest of them yelled furiously and divided into two groups. One came after Clarke and the other approached the patch of trees among which Lexa was hiding.

Clarke clenched her teeth and forced her arms to stay in position as she fired her gun at those who ran towards her. She shot one in the head, two in the chest and stomach. The fourth one almost came too close, but after getting one bullet in his thigh, he stopped there.

He stared at her for a second or two with fear in his eyes. Then, he glanced at her raised gun. He swallowed hard at it, before he turned around and ran away.

She knew she should kill him, but she couldn't pull the trigger at someone who was fleeing. As she was hesitating, he quickly disappeared in the woods, leaving a trail of blood behind him.

She turned around and aimed at those who were searching for Lexa. She killed them after firing at them repeatedly.

She stood there with a defensive stance as she looked around cautiously. After seeing none, she waited for Lexa to come down.

The brunette didn't show up, though, and Clarke rushed to the tree she was in and called her name.

She heard struggles in the tree. Warm blood fell down on her raised face, followed by a body. It almost knocked her down.

The bloody body made her heart stop, but when she realized that it was one of the 02 guys instead of Lexa, she let out a deep breath.

Lexa got down afterwards with her sword in her hand. It was drenched in blood, and so was the front side of her armor. Several drops of fresh blood decorated her face, making the flames in her light eyes even brighter.

"Are your hurt?" Clarke asked her as she lowered her gun.

Lexa shook her head and wiped her blade clean on the dead man's clothes. She sheathed her blade and started to collect her arrows from the dead bodies.

"We were lucky," she said after having gathered all the arrows. "These Reapers aren't well trained. New recruits perhaps. Otherwise we'd be dead already."

"Reapers?" Clarke frowned as she clenched her hands. They were shaking too hard for the adrenaline spikes she had just had.

Lexa didn't answer her, and Clarke shook her head while walking to the captives.

Getting down on one of her knees, she untied the prisoners one by one. Her heart sank heavily when she found out that more than half of them had already died. There were two of them who had probably been dead for a while, and their bodies had already started to decompose.

She sighed and dragged the alive ones away from the device. She flipped them around and examined those in 03 army uniform first.

Two of them were 03 soldiers. The front side of their uniform had been practically shredded because they had been dragged along on the ground.

One of them had a swollen wound on his leg. Clarke figured that he might have something lodged in his leg, but she couldn't be sure. She checked his name tag, but it had been torn off already.

When she placed her hand on his forehead to see how high a fever he was running, he opened his eyes slowly. After taking a glance at her army uniform, he seemed to have found some relief.

"W-water," he begged. His shaky voice barely bubbled through his throat. Licking his lips, he reached for the water bottle that Clarke had carried on her belt.

Clarke opened the bottle and moved it closer to him. He gulped some water along with a fever reducing pill that Clarke had given him.

He tried to hold the bottle himself, but his nailless fingers were all bloody and shaky. When he saw Lexa appear beside Clarke, terror filled his eyes. He flinched and opened his mouth, squeezing some sounds through his throat. Clarke calmed him down by telling him that he was safe now, and then he moved back a little while staring at Lexa closely.

Clarke checked on the other soldier. It was a woman, and she was unconscious. She, too, had lost all her fingernails. Her hands were bloody too, with pieces of flesh gone because when being dragged she was digging her hands into the ground too hard. While she didn't have any major wounds on her, she seemed to be very weak.

Clarke sighed and shook her head. As she moved to check on the others, she was surprised to find out that they were 02 warriors.

"I didn't know your people would...torture each other," she said to Lexa.

"I believe I have made it clear that these men are not my people," Lexa told her calmly, though Clarke noticed a stream of anger in her voice when she mentioned "these people".

"So not only do you fight us, you fight each other too?"

Lexa snorted. Instead of answering Clarke's question, she simply said "I'm gonna go find the mounts" before she turned around and disappeared in the woods.

Clarke rolled her eyes, and then lowered her head and checked the 02 warrior in front of her. He was a big guy with a shaved, tattooed head. There was a long, deep laceration on his back. It had been infected, with thick, bloody fluid oozing out.

She offered him some water, but he spat it back into her face furiously when he realized that Clarke was wearing an 03 army uniform. He grabbed her collar and shoved her to the ground.

"Let her go," Lexa, who had just come back with two mounts, ordered him.

Surprised to hear her voice, he turned to look at her. "Heda…?" He murmured after taking a good look at her face underneath the moonlight.

"Let her go, Lincoln. She's with me," Lexa explained to him simply.

The man, Lincoln, nodded humbly and let Clarke go, after giving Clarke a hateful stare.

"Good, you two know each other. Maybe you could tell him that it's not polite to spit on people's face," Clarke drawled and went to check on the last two survivors.

Their conditions were much worse, for they had been dragged along on the ground for much longer. The flesh on their knees, elbows and forearms were almost completely gone. Clarke could even see their bones through some spots.

She sighed, and offered one of them a painkiller. He refused by shaking his head, before he looked at Lexa.

Lexa nodded at him. She got down on one knee and took out a leather pouch. She laid it on the ground and pulled a small vial out.

She poured a pinch of the content into the injured man's mouth, and he thanked her with a nod. Then, he let out a deep breath and lay back with his eyes closed.

"What is that?" Clarke asked.

"Pain killer?" Lexa shrugged and put the pouch back. She went to the last survivor's side and grabbed his arm and his shoulder to flip him over.

A strong, foul smell made Clarke hold her had come from that big tear on his lower abdomen. It was hard to tell if it had been caused by a weapon or an animal, because it was heavily infected. Yellow liquid leaked out from the red, swollen flesh, where a group of maggots happily nested inside.

He was barely conscious, but when he saw Lexa's face through his black, swollen eyes, he seemed to have found hope. "Heda..." that word slipped out from his cracked lips.

Lexa stared into his eyes calmly. He pulled his lip into a smile and whispered something to her incoherently.

Lexa nodded at him, and he nodded back. Clarke frowned when she noticed that suddenly the fear and pain in his eyes were gone.

Lexa kneeled beside him while pulling her dagger out. She placed the tip of it above his chest and gazed into his eyes.

"Whoa!" Clarke exclaimed as she grabbed Lexa's arm in reflex.

Lexa turned to look at her. "Clarke, if you can save him, do it now. Otherwise you need to step back and turn away," she said with her usual, indifferent voice.

Clarke bit her lips and slowly let go of Lexa's arm. When Lexa told the man "yu gonplei ste odon", she stepped back, but instead of turning away she numbly watched Lexa plunge that blade into the man's chest.

After the man stopped moving, Lexa pulled her dagger out and wiped it clean quietly. Then, she turned to Clarke and asked, "I only found 11 bodies. Has anyone got away?"

"Ummm...what?" Clarked frowned.

"The enemies," Lexa explained. "There were 12 of them, but I only found 11 bodies. Did anyone get away?"

"Ummm...yeah, I think one of them ran away, why?" Clarke asked.

Lexa sighed. "We must leave now," she announced, and Lincoln immediately stood up.

"You must be a fool to have let a reaper get away," he hissed at Clarke while getting the two mounts.

Clarke rolled her eyes. "One of them got away, big deal."

"You wouldn't think that when an army of reapers comes after us after he informs them about our location," Lexa told her as she and Lincoln put the badly injured 02 warrior on the mount's back.

Lincoln got up afterwards. He struggled to hold the rein and almost slipped off. Clenching his teeth, he pushed his feet into the stirrups and grabbed the rein firmly.

Lexa got on the other one and pulled Clarke up. She kicked the mount's stomach with her heel and the animal swiftly leaped forward.

"Whoa! Wait a second!" Clarke exclaimed as she pulled on the rein hard to stop the mount. It stopped abruptly, almost throwing both of them off.

Clarke jumped off before Lexa could stop her. She ran to the two 03 soldiers and said, "either we take them with us, or you'll have to leave without me."

"If you don't leave now, the reapers will catch you," Lexa told her impatiently.

"Then you can suck it because you won't have enough time to find another person to help you with your damn rescue mission," Clarke told her. "I am not leaving without them."

Lexa growled. She turned her face sideways and listened, before she said, "fine, if you want to slow the mounts down by putting more weight on them, go ahead."

"Well we might be able to take off sooner if one of you could actually help me," Clarke argued breathlessly as she dragged the two soldiers over. She lifted the woman up, and Lincoln put her on his mount.

Lexa got off and helped her carry the man into her mount. "Hurry," she demanded as she held Clarke by her waist and pulled her to sit in front of her.

"Who are these people exactly? Why are you so afraid of them?" Clarke asked curiously.

"You may think that we are the same, Clarke, but the reapers are nothing but ruthless monsters. Even animals are better than them," Lexa told her as she gave her mount a kick on the side.

The mount galloped forward, just in time to get away from a flying boomerang. Lexa took down her crossbow and shot an 02 warrior who emerged from the shadows of the trees.

She kicked the mount again, and it leaped over a patch of shrubs and dashed forward.

Clarke pulled her gun out and turned her torso to fire at the enemies. She could hardly aim, though, when she was moving too fast.

Arrows and darts rained down. Their mount got hit by an arrow, and it furiously roared. Waving its tail like a flail, it knocked away a few enemies that had gotten too close before it leaped over a small creek.

Clarke could hear the enemies fussing and growling loudly in Trigedasleng. Some of them jumped out from the trees and attacked her and Lexa, but the brunette pulled her sword out and killed them.

Slowly, the enemies fell behind. Most of them eventually gave up stopped pursuing. A few persistent ones continued chasing after them, but they couldn't outrun the mounts and they got thrown far behind.

The mounts ran through the woods and into a small piece of open land in front of the rolling hills. They slowed down. Exhausted, they started to wander along a winding road hiding among the tall grass while searching for food.

The mounts purred. Huge puffs of breath left their big noses as they lowered their heads and pulled the newly grown grass off with their teeth.

The leaves of the trees whispered along with the night wind, so did the tall grass. The 02s were nowhere to be seen, and everything seemed to be quiet and peaceful underneath the moonlight.

Clarke had finally let out that breath she had been holding. She petted the mount, and it shook its head impatiently while eating.

It was then that she noticed Lexa's weight on her shoulder. The brunette leaned against her, with her face buried in her shoulder.

Clarke frowned. She raised her shoulder, hoping that Lexa could take the hint, but the brunette seemed to have pressed her body harder against her after that.

"Umm...I think it's probably the time for us to get off and figure out what to do next."

Lexa didn't say anything, and Clarke turned around to take a look. As she pulled her shoulder forward, Lexa's body tilted to the side and fell off the mount languishly.

Clarke immediately jumped off. After seeing that Lexa had her eyes closed, she tapped her face and shook her, but Lexa wouldn't wake up. Short, weak breath left her nose irregularly, and her pulse was dangerously shallow and rapid.

Clarke checked her for injuries immediately, but found no arrows nor bleeding wounds on her. Though, she did noticed that every single piece of Lexa's muscles seemed to be pulling tight.

After flipping the brunette over, she had finally found a small dart lodged in her left ankle.

Clarke pulled that dark out and stared at its tail which was made from a few grey feathers. "Oh, no..." she murmured, as the memory of her people being killed by those poisonous darts came to her.

In panic, she checked Lexa's pulse again. Her blood ran cold when she couldn't feel anything under her trembling fingers.

She swallowed hard and held her breath, before she unlatched Lexa's chest piece and pressed her ear against the brunette's chest. She closed her eyes and prayed, before she captured that weak flutter under Lexa's ribs.

A loud groan from Lincoln spooked her. She jolted as she turned to take a look at him while pulling her gun out.

The man was practically lying on his stomach on top of his mount. His breath was heavy and his eyes were barely open. He had one arrow under his shoulder blade and another in his lower back.

He groaned again, before he rolled off his mount. For a few seconds, he just lay there, gasping. Then, he saw Lexa lying in front of Clarke unconscious. He curse loudly and rushed to her side, half crawling half running.

Shoving Clarke away from Lexa, he examined her himself. Then, he looked around while mumbling something. When he saw the dart in Clarke's hand, he growled and yanked it away.

He held the dart in his hand and examined it closely, almost dropping it since his hands were shaking too hard from the pain.

He hurled it at a vulture who were standing nearby staring at Lexa hungrily. The bird squeaked and expanded its wings. Before it took off, it twitched and fell. It died in seconds, with bloody foam coming out from its mouth.

Lincoln went to examine the bird. Then, he slammed his fist against the ground and closed his eyes in a sigh.

"W-what is it? It's a poison, right? I've seen that before...do you know what type of poison it is?" Clarke asked him.

He shot her a cold stare, before he went to Lexa's side again. There was nothing but a look of despair in his eyes. He could barely support himself but he still forced himself to keep his body straight.

"Do you what kind of poison it is? Do you know how to treat it?" Clarke continued, and earned an angry look from Lincoln.

He took another look at Lexa's face, before he said, "there is no cure. She's going to die."

Clarke opened her mouth. Her throat had suddenly gone dry. She cleared it for a few times, before she clenched her cold sweat covered fingers and said, "no...no she'd not."

She nervously glanced at Lexa, and then she turned back to Lincoln. "I've seen how this poison kills. Those people...they died in less than a minute. If it could kill her, she would have been dead already. Besides, people survive from lethal poison all the time. She umm...maybe she could survive. Yeah, she is going to survive."

Lincoln shook his head. He tried to hide the deep sorrow in his eyes, but he couldn't. "She won't," he said firmly. "No one survives this poison."

"She will," Clarke said firmly while wondering how certain she actually was. She wondered if she said that solely because that was what she wanted to believe. "She will," she repeated.

Lincoln stared at her for a while. Then he raised his head and gazed at the twin moons. He mumbled something in Trigedasleng while struggling to move Lexa into the moonlight.

That simple task seemed to have drained him. He collapsed, gasping hard. Clarke asked if he needed any help, but he just shook his head.

"If you have time, 03 girl, pray," he told her. "Pray to the twin Goddess. If they hear us, they will hide the light of her soul from the Death."

Then, he stopped talking and stared into the moons while murmuring something softly, leaving Clarke standing there with a dangling heart.

* * *

Thelonious Jaha raised from his medical pod when the "guest" light blinked beside him.

He was expecting the droids who would bring him his lunch, but instead, he got a visitor - a long haired woman in immaculate business suit.

"Lorelei Tsing," he greeted her, a little surprised. He moved himself over to the table in the corner of his patient room and sat down, before he gave her a smile.

"Thelonious," the woman nodded at him, smiling back. "You look good."

"Well, still a little bit sore," Jaha told her as he offered her the other chair. "Nice to see you here. Are you here for your NF doctor alliance program?"

"Sort of," the woman answered. "Mr. Secretary sent me. He wanted me to pay you a visit in case your doctors need a second opinion. I told him that Dr. Griffin is one of the best doctors in the federation, but he insisted, so here I am."

Jaha nodded. "I am doing well. In fact, Abby said that I might be able to go home in a couple of days."

"Will you be having more physical therapy, though?" Lorelei asked.

Jana nodded. "I assume I'd be visiting physical therapists for a while," he said, "but I'm doing great."

"That's good to hear," Lorelei smiled at him. "When the committee heard that you were injured, they were deeply worried. Some of them were concerned that you might no longer be able to run a planet, you know, but it's such a relief that you are looking good. You are the pivot of the 03 Council, Thelonious."

"Well you tell Mr. Secretary that I'll be back in my office in no time," Jaha said.

"Do you think you can handle all the work while going through all kinds of therapy? I mean, you seem to have a very divided Council. I bet it's hard to pull things together, huh?"

"People have different opinions over different things. We argue. We discuss. We agree to disagree. My job is to make sure that they get along and that things get done in the end."

Lorelei curled her lips as she stared at Jaha. "It has come to the Committee's attention that the discussion of what to with the war between the 02 and 03 in your Council is not moving forward."

"Well we've had a few setbacks recently, but we are working towards an agreement."

"An impeachment voting doesn't really sound like working towards an agreement, Thelonious. Two planets are at war, and people are dying, the last thing you want is to have your Council wasting precious time on some personal feud."

"I absolutely understand that," Jaha nodded. "I'll...make sure that it never happens again."

Lorelei pulled her lips into a big smile at Jaha. She looked around at everything in the room, before she turned back to him. "Your term ends at the end of the year? Or is it the beginning of the next year?"

"It ends on the last day of the fifth month next year," Jaha told her.

"It's about a year away," Lorelei said.

"It is," Jaha nodded.

"So, have you planned on what to do after you move out from the Chancellor's mansion?" Lorelei asked.

"Probably spend more time on gardening, and with my family," Jaha answered.

"Sounds fun," Lorelei told him. "No plans for running for a higher office? Like maybe an NF Committee member?"

Jaha shook his head. "Nah, I think I'm good. I might write a book or two."

"Oh, really? That's nice. What do you think you'd include in your book?"

"Things that happened to me during my term, I assume."

"So...let's say that you are writing your book, how would you describe your legacy as a Chancellor, Thelonious?"

"What do you mean?" Jaha frowned.

"Well, your legacy, as in something significant that you've accomplished or created when being a Chancellor. For example, the previous Chancellor of 03, made the Treaty deal happen. The Treaty between 02 and 03 was his legacy. The next Chancellor, well I'm not entirely sure what his or her legacy would be, but if I have to take a wild guess, I'd say that it would be ending the war, because it's about time but you, as the current Chancellor, are not making it happen."

"Ending a war isn't that simple, Lorelei," Jaha argued. "Once everything's ready, I'll push for another peace talk."

"Do you think your Council would allow another peace talk? Do you think the majority would back you up?"

Jaha went quiet. "I think I can get enough votes on another peace talk," he eventually said.

"I'm sure you can, but maybe the first thing to do for you, is to have a less divided Council. You need people who can get things done. You don't need idealists who spend all their time painting a big, pretty picture."

Jaha frowned. "What are you implying?"

"I am trying to tell you that you need to get your Council together. Like...if it's truly divided, all you need to do is to make a decision on which side to keep."

"Are you asking me to get rid of some of my Council members?"

"I am not asking you to do anything, Thelonious. I'm just simply reminding you that sometimes difficult decisions have to be made before anything can move forward. If you really want to accomplish anything, you'll need a Council where people can agree with each other," Lorelei said.

She leaned in and tapped the back of Jaha's hand gently. "Thelonious, it's time to think about your planet's future, and of course your future too. 50, 100 years from now, when people talk about you, do you really want to be the Chancellor who couldn't even pull his Council together? Or, you can be the Chancellor who pulls his Council together and end the war between two planets."

"I'm not sure if I really understand you," Jaha told her after a long pause.

Lorelei smiled. "I think you do, Thelonious. I think you do," she said before she left.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Getting a groan out of her throat had never been this hard for Lexa. She had to use all her strength to force that sound to bubble through her clogged throat.

She wondered what was going on while trying to recall what had happened. There were nothing but broken pieces of memories inside her head. The pounding headache she was having right now masked everything.

Her head slipped to the side, and her arms were raised. It took her forever to realize that someone must be moving her limbs.

She tried to move them herself, but she had no control over her body. All her muscles were pulling way too tight, and the frequent spasm was out of her control.

Then, she heard someone calling her name. That voice sounded familiar, but who was it? It was so close, like right beside her, but at the same time, it was so far away like it was coming from another dimension.

She tried to pry her eyes open, but right now her eyelids felt like two pieces of lead being glued together.

There might be a split second that she had successfully got one of them open. She couldn't focus on anything at all. All she saw was bright, dazzling light above her.

Two huge, bright blobs were hanging in the sky, and she figure that they must be the twin moons. Since when were they that bright, though? Were they the twin moons, or were there actually two suns in the sky?

She thought she saw a face in front of her. A concerned face. Someone was concerned, but about what? Her? What happened to her?

She pondered that question, trying to recall what had happened. As she did so, all her memories poured out, pushing her headache into a sharp peak.

She felt a strong vertigo,and she knew she was about to black out again, so she hung on to whatever she was seeing or hearing.

She heard someone calling her name. "Lexa, Lexa..."

There was a slight shiver in that voice, and she wondered whose voice that was.

She tried to associate it with a face but she failed. She could hardly do anything. Even breathing itself seemed to have become an impossible task for her.

There was a thick, rusty taste in the back of her throat. That taste was familiar to her. It was the taste of blood, her own blood. It seeped out, clogging her throat, making it impossible for her to breathe.

She gagged, turning her head to the side unconsciously. She wanted to spit the blood out, but she couldn't even open her lips.

"Lexa." She heard that person calling her name again. She tried to give them a reply, or maybe a nod, but she couldn't.

She drifted away, slipping into the darkness unwillingly with a confused, chaotic mind.

* * *

Bending forward with one hand on her knee and the other holding her sword firmly, Lexa panted hard. Every breath of air that she had sucked in was now clawing her throat. Every drop of sweat of hers was stinging her.

She wiped her chin with her sleeve as she raised her head to look at the training target. It was a small dummy hanging high in the tree. Its limbs were made of bundled straw, and its face was a piece of paper with eyes and lips painted on there.

Right now, the way its lips curled, the way its eyes drooped, it looked like the dummy was mocking her.

Lexa closed her eyes, still panting. She panted so hard that her vision went dark for a split second.

Her legs were shaking, and her arms were too sore. There wasn't a single piece of muscle that wasn't protesting right now.

She stared at the dummy. Jump, hit the target in the head with her sword, and land on her feet. It seemed to be such a simple task, only that she couldn't do it right. She jumped too high. She jumped too low. She jumped perfectly but missed the target before she fell down. She successfully hit the target but waited too long to prepare the landing and ended up tumbling in the ground.

Anya, her mentor, had shown her how to do it multiple times, and Lexa watched her stepping on the side of the tree, launching herself at the target, turning her torso while slashing her blade at the dummy's head and then landing without breaking a sweat.

It was so easy watching Anya do it, but then when she had to do it, it suddenly became impossible.

Anya finally got tired of watching her fail over and over. She told her to practice on her own before she left to meet some clan leaders.

Lexa tried again, despite the cramping inside her lower abdomen. She ran towards the tree and stepped on a knob on it just like Anya had done. She pushed down hard, before she jumped up. She let out a loud battle cry as she waved her sword at the dummy.

She hit it too hard, and it tilted her balance off. She wasn't able to turn her body to land on the ground on her feet. Instead, she collapsed into the ground on her stomach.

She cursed and groaned, letting go of her sword. After rolling over, she sprawled there and gasped like a dying animal.

A muffled chuckle came to her, and she jerked. Raising herself on her right elbow, she threw her sword sheath at a shrub beside the hut to her left.

Part of the shrub titled to the side, revealing a giggling young girl behind. Her messy, curly hair was covered in small pieces of leaves, and she had her hand on top of it like she was protecting herself.

She grinned at Lexa. Sunlight danced in her ocean blue eyes. The slight sunburn on her cheeks gave her a vibrant glow, so vibrant that even her freckles looked sparkling.

"Costia," Lexa drawled as she dragged herself over to pick up her sword. Then she sat down beside the shrub and threw her head back with her eyes closed.

"Getting your butt kicked by Anya again?" Costia hopped out to sit down beside her. When she saw a bleeding cut on Lexa's cheek, she leaned in and wiped the few drops of blood off her face.

"I am _training_ ," Lexa correct her as she carelessly rubbed her sleeve against her cheek. The hard wipe streaked her face, and that made Costia laugh.

"So yeah, you are getting your butt kicked by Anya again," Costia commented. When she saw that Lexa was too worn out to come up with a retort, she chuckled again.

Lexa had finally caught her breath. She turned to look at Costia. "Shouldn't you be training in the healer camp in the mountains right now?" She asked while looking at the other girl. She was mesmerizing, and Lexa couldn't move her eyes away. She kept staring at her deeply tanned skin, the sheen of sweat on her nose, her bright eyes and everything of her.

Costia leaned in and picked out a small twig from Lexa's hair. "I was doing so well, so they granted me a short leave."

Lexa nodded. "I hope that's not another way of saying that you were kicked out from the healer camp."

"Hey," Costia complained softly as she placed her hands on Lexa's cheeks. She drew the brunette near and told her, "when your girlfriend uses her short leave to visit you instead of her family first, you probably should treat her better than this."

Her words finally brought a smile into Lexa's exhausted face. The brunette gently slid her hand into her hair and pulled her close to kiss her.

After their lips parted, they both chuckled and bumped their noses for a few times while cupping each other's face.

Costia pecked Lexa's lips again, before she untied her waterskin from her belt. She handed it to Lexa, and Lexa took a few sips.

Having the cold water run down her throat seemed to have soothed her. She let out a deep breath, before she handed the waterskin back to Costia.

Costia lay down and rested her head on Lexa's lap. For a while, she quietly stared at the tall grass, the crude huts around them, the fire pit in the middle and the distant mountains.

Narrowing her eyes at the azure sky, she murmured, "it's getting hotter and hotter."

"Well, the Summer is coming," Lexa replied. She twirled a lock of Costia's hair around her index finger and used it to tickle Costia. "How's it going in the healer training camp? Have you accidentally poisoned anyone yet?"

She earned a punch in her stomach and a cold stare from Costia.

"No, I haven't poisoned anyone yet, but I might actually consider poisoning my girlfriend if she keeps talking to me like this," she drawled.

Lexa gave her an amused chuckle. "So, how's it going in the healer training camp?"

"Everything's going fine," Costia said. "I might graduate sooner than I expected."

"Really? You think you can graduate before next Summer?" Lexa raised her eyebrows.

Costia nodded. "Actually, it might be as early as this Winter."

"Hmmm..." Lexa hummed while pinching Costia's nose. "So are you saying that I might have a certified healer girlfriend before the end of this year?"

Costia winked at her. She looked at Lexa in the eyes and asked, "do you think you'd be there when Anya hands me my healer badge during the ceremony?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Lexa frowned.

"Oh I don't know, what if Anya finally decides to kick you out of her camp? What if you suck so bad and they throw you out?"

"She won't," Lexa growled. "And I don't suck, Costia. And you, really need to address Anya as Heda."

Costia shrugged. "Hey, to me she's always Anya. She's always your stink face mentor who beats you with a stick when you are falling behind but also saves you a bowl of food later."

She looked around again at those empty huts, before she asked, "hey, where are the others? Did they all leave without you or something?"

"No," Lexa said firmly as she rolled her eyes. "They are still in the forest. We had a foraging mission, and I was the first one to finish."

"Where is Anya?"

"She's at the other side of the camp, talking to some clan leaders," Lexa explained.

"Because she got tired of watching you fail?" Costia teased.

Lexa snorted. She was about to say something, but before she did she saw Anya coming towards them.

She jolted and got up in panic, causing Costia to fall into the ground. Costia stood up too and stood beside Lexa. Both of them nervously looked at Anya. They tried to avoid Anya's piercing gaze, but at the same time, neither of them was brave enough to turn away from her.

Anya stared at them with her lips clenched. She eventually turned to Costia who now was pulling every muscle on her face to maintain a serious face.

"Costia," she called her name with a calm, almost nonchalant voice. "Do you know where you are?"

"Umm...Trikru's Hedkru camp?" Costia answered hesitantly.

"So you do know that this is a training ground?" Anya let the words fall out from her lips one after another slowly.

"Well..." Costia choked.

"You are not a Hedkru (a person to be trained as the next Heda), and when there is a training in session in the training ground, you know that you are forbidden to enter, right?"

Costia licked her lips while pulling the tail of her hair locks. "Well...I didn't see you or other Hedkru, and Lexa was resting, so I thought…."

Her voice lowered as Anya's eyebrows raised. Eventually she swallowed the last first words back and said, "it won't happen again, Heda. I promise."

"Really?" Anya pulled her lips to the side slightly. It looked as if she was about to smile, but her stare and her deliberate pause made both girls shiver. "If I remember correctly, you made the exact same promise to me last time when you interrupted Lexa's training session at Floukru's Hedkru camp."

Costia swallowed hard and clasped her fingers together anxiously. "This time I really mean it. It won't happen again. I promise."

Anya didn't say anything. She just stared at both of them until they started to sweat. Then she turned to Lexa and said, "go clean yourself. You look like a mud badger."

A giggle burst out from Costia's mouth. She immediately covered her mouth with her hand and looked at Anya.

Anya gave her a cold glance, before she told Lexa, "and when you are done, take your girlfriend to the food tent. We can't wait for you there forever."

* * *

Short, shallow breath burst out from Lexa's throat. The force of the airflow seemed to have pained her lungs.

She felt pain everywhere. Inside her stomach, everything was being pulled, squeezed and twisted. Underneath her skin, there were burning flames, acid and crawling insects. Her flesh was being torn and her bones were being crushed. She felt like she was being shredded into pieces.

She tried to move her fingers. She tried to grasp something. She did lift one of her fingers, for a split second. Then, in quivers, she collapsed.

She drifted in and out for a long time, before her consciousness came back to her for a very brief moment.

There, she heard it again. She heard that voice again. Someone was saying something to her. Someone was calling her name.

She tried to focus on that voice, but she couldn't. That voice soon turned into a soft buzz. It turned into something completely meaningless and incomprehensible.

She exhaled and swallowed. The blood tasted thick in the back of her tongue. Her lungs protested, forcing her to cough it out while the muscles clenching around her throat refused to do so.

She let out a weak cough while trying to open her droopy eyes. For a split second there, she caught a glimpse of a pair of eyes.

A pair of concerned eyes. Something shimmered in them. Were they tears? Or it was just the reflection of the bright moonlight?

She couldn't tell, for her eyes were shut again.

"Costia..." she let that name slip out from her lips before she drifted back to the darkness again.

* * *

Lexa wasn't sure what exactly awakened her. It might be the bright moonlight, or the whispering night breeze. It might be the crackling fire. Or, it could be Costia's gaze.

The freckled girl was looking at her intently while lying right beside her. The moonlight danced in her ocean blue eyes. Right now, they were warm and peaceful, and only Lexa would know what kind of strong storm it could stir inside her whenever she looked at them.

A smile appeared in the corner of Lexa's lips. She traced her fingertip along Costia's nose and whispered, "you should be sleeping."

"I know," Costia breathed. She gently ran the back of her index finger along a stray lock that was hugging Lexa's face. As her finger moved down, her eyes followed, and eventually they both stopped on Lexa's lips.

She inched forward and pressed her lips on Lexa's. They shared a soft kiss, and when their lips parted, they both let out a soft sigh.

"The sun will rise soon. You should get some sleep," Lexa told her in a whisper.

"I know," Costia replied. She held Lexa's gaze and continued, "but I'm leaving in the morning. It's gonna be a while before I see you again, Lexa."

Hearing her name coming out from Costia's lips was perhaps the most pleasant things in the entire world, and Lexa melted in it. Rubbing her thumb along Costia's jawline absentmindedly, Lexa watched the moonlight shimmer in her eyes. She watched the shadow of her eyelashes and the highlight on her cheekbones. She watched the swirling emotions underneath that ocean blue. She watched her heaving chest, her slightly parted lips and her warm fingers.

She revelled in this moment, a moment where time itself had stood still so nothing could be disturbed, destroyed or broken.

She could only see her at this moment. She could only see Costia. The girl right in front of her, holding her, whispering to her. She had a bright, bright soul. It was strong as the angry sea, yet it was warm as the Spring breeze.

She buried herself into Costia's embrace. There was so much love in her heart that it actually pained her. That throbbing organ inside her chest, it sent pulsing pain into her body. She could tasted it on her tongue. She could feel it on the tip of her fingers. She could hear it in her ears. She could feel it in every breath and every movement.

It was a pain she was willing to embrace and enjoy. It was something she'd never let go.

She drifted into her dreams in Costia's arms. When she opened her eyes again, it was dawn already.

The first ray of sun peeked through the narrow valley between the mountains outside their camp. It rendered everything with a warm orange hue. The dew drops on the tall grass shined like stars, and the fact that Costia was about to leave suddenly weighed heavy on Lexa's heart.

Costia was packing, and when she saw Lexa sit up, she smiled and pulled her in for a kiss.

"So...will you be there for me when...you know..." Lexa asked as she helped her girlfriend packing.

Costia paused. "I don't know," she replied honestly. "I'll try, but I don't know if I could leave the camp during then. I might be able to request a leave but you know the rules…."

Lexa nodded. "Then I guess I'll see you at the first snowfall?"

Costia grinned. She sat down on Lexa's lap and teased, "you could always sneak out and come to see me. There is a lot of things we can do around the healer training camp."

Lexa snorted at Costia's wink. "Yeah, right," she drawled. "And then I'd get kicked out from this camp forever."

"They won't kick you out. You are the best Hedkru among all," Costia said.

"Yes, but I am not the only Hedkru," Lexa said. After a short pause, she added, "I'll see if I can take a leave before that."

Costia chuckled. "I was just kidding. We both know that you are not allowed to leave the Hedkru camp until you win that title."

"I'll win the title," Lexa said firmly. "And I'll be there when Anya grants you your healer badge."

Costia smiled. She pulled Lexa in for a long, deep kiss, before she looked into the brunette's eyes. "Lexa," she called.

"Hmm…?" Lexa raised her head to look at her girlfriend.

"I know that to everyone else, you are either the next Heda or nothing, but to me, you are just Lexa," Costia said sincerely. "To me, you are always my Lexa."

Lost in Costia's gaze, Lexa opened her lips slightly. She gave her a brief nod afterwards, and cupped Costia's face again. She leaned in and kissed her. "May we meet again," she breathed into those sweet, sweet lips.

"May we meet again," Costia whispered back, smiling into the kiss.

* * *

"Costia..." Lexa squeezed that name through her clenched teeth. The fading memories of a smile Costia made her jolt hard.

She fell down and hit the ground. She could smell the dirt, the cold dew and the crushed grass underneath her. She could smell blood, in her throat, in her nose, everywhere.

Someone held her firmly and pulled her into a sitting position again. A puff of air burst out from Lexa's throat, causing her to cough hard. The warm, salty taste gushed out from her mouth, dribbling down along her chin.

She couldn't stop coughing. She heard someone calling her name again. She held on to that voice. She held on to a glimpse of light that was prying her eyelids open. She held on to anything she was hearing or feeling right now. She hung on to this world even though a part of her told her that maybe she should let go.

She fought. She struggled. She forced herself not to fall into that darkness, but it eventually devoured her again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: a short chapter, for Lexa and Costia (who only got mentioned once in the show with no flashbacks or anything). I feel that being with Costia, and of course the loss of her too, is a very important thing that defines Lexa, so I figure I'd explore it a little in the fic. There will probably be more flashbacks of Costia, Lexa and Anya in the later chapters, and more introductions of their culture, beliefs, life and everything.  
> I also made up the word "Hedkru" because I couldn't find an existing word for it.
> 
> Thanks for everyone who's reading this story! xx


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